


The married life of Loke and Lucy

by charliepoet13



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Already Married, F/M, Fluff, and loving it, domestic life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22145491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliepoet13/pseuds/charliepoet13
Summary: Takes place in the world of 'A proposal to remember'. Small moments in the life of Lucy and Loke before Fairytail got back together. Was once a oneshot but became a full story.
Relationships: Lucy Heartfilia/Loke
Comments: 23
Kudos: 63





	1. How to cheer up your wife

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really unsure of why i've been addicted to continuing stories lately, but this has been in my brain and refuses to let me write anything else, so I hope you enjoy?

It was an amazing wedding, surrounded by her new family in the stars. The atmosphere, the love, Loke in that white suit proclaiming his undying love for her, it had all gotten to her. She had cried in joy a lot that day. The honeymoon vacation was definitely...something else. It was safe to say Loke knew how to show her a good time and his self-satisfied smirk, that held for a long time afterwards, told her he knew how good he was. He was overconfident...but also right.

The honeymoon had to end though, just like all great things, so it was back to the grindstone for her. She’d had quite a bit of time off in total and she had a lot to make up for and boy did they let her know it. She had written a very detailed main article this week, plus a few side stories, pictures included. She had rushed around all week, spending all her time either out gathering information or at her desk furiously typing. It was now Friday, she was absolutely tired and she hadn’t seen her spirits once this week. She hoped the fanbase enjoyed the issue that was published that morning, otherwise there would be blood.

There would be blood anyway, if she ever got her hands on Jason. ‘The office needed a spring cleaning’ her ass, he just didn’t want to deal with the invading dust bunnies himself. She motivated herself with the thought of overtime pay as she slowly made her way around the office. She stopped when she got to a trophy cabinet housing the Sorcerer’s many awards. She hummed to herself, trying to think of how to go about cleaning them all, when she heard someone speak behind her.

“Enjoying all your awards Lucy? I don’t blame you, they were hard earned.”

She didn’t need to turn around to know who it was, only one man would dare flirt with her this late at night and hope to get away with it. She stayed turned to the trophies, hiding the smile creeping onto her face. She really was a goner if just hearing his voice cheered her up this much.

“I wish they were all mine Loke, sadly they belong to the magazine. I don’t know how Jason expects me to clean all these. Does he want me to take them all off the shelves and dust them? Does he want me to dust the cabinet too? It’s going to take ages”

“How cruel of him Lucy” She could practically hear his smirk forming around his words. “Why, the only thing I want you to take off is my clothes”

“Exactly!...Wait what?”

His words hit her like a train and she turned to face him, face a burning red. He was relaxed, pleased at finally getting her attention, sitting on her desk and watching her. How long had he actually been there before he spoke up?

“What? Has the writer never fantasized about taking me against her desk? I find that hard to believe”

Well she hadn’t, but she knew what her dreams were going to be about tonight, thanks Loke.

“As a matter of fact, I haven’t”

“Well now’s a good a time as any to start”

How was he so smooth? It was a tempting offer, but she needed to work, right now she was too tired and cranky to get into that kind of mood. She just wanted to be done and leave. 

“What’s gotten you so worked up?”

“Do I need a reason?” She shot him an unimpressed glare and he sighed. “I saw the article my wife, my lovely, amazing, beautiful, smart, kind-”

“Loke”

“Sorry, said the W-word, my bad. It still sends me into a rush thinking about how you married me. So you can imagine how I felt when I saw your article for this week's magazine, all about our wedding” 

She groaned, she had been incredibly flustered when Jason had told her that was her big story, of course Loke had read it too, could it get any worse?

“It must be a slow news week, since Jason seemed to think it was so important that we talk about an ex Fairytail members marriage”

“Well, it is a gossip rag Lucy, you should have expected this. But hey, at least you won’t have to spring the news on the others, odds are they read it.”

Yes because that’s how she wanted to spring the news to her best friends, it wasn’t like she wanted to tell them in person.

“I guess so…”

Things went quiet for a moment as they just stared at each other. Loke had taken her offhand compliment to heart, he was wearing that lovely jacket and jeans combo she first saw him in all that time ago when she had first joined Fairytail. She had a soft spot for that outfit that she felt would never truly go away. She caught him fidgeting with his sleeve, looking away when she tried to catch his eye.

“Are you ok?”

“Well...As amazing as your description was and it really was brilliant. I enjoyed reading about that day from your perspective, finding out what you enjoyed, how much you loved my vows, that was really sweet of you...But you were missing something and it bothers me a little.”

“I missed something?”

He nodded, shifting a little uncomfortably on the table.

“Yeah, there was no mention of your proposal. Considering it was an article all about your love life, I’m surprised it didn’t get a paragraph or two”

Oh that, yeah it shouldn’t surprise her he’d notice such a detail, well there was an easy explanation for that.

“There might be an interview about it in the next issue, just a casual one. Basically Jason’s going to run through some questions to fill in the blanks my article left. It’ll be done in five to ten minutes tops. I wanted to run it by you first though”

“You did?”

He tilted his head as he leaned forward, confused and unsure of what her response would be.

“Right, I wanted to ask if I should only mention you giving me a ring and act as if that was the only proposal, would that be better for you?” 

If he had looked confused before, it was nothing to him now, he looked absolutely bewilldered, staring at her in open disbelief, she felt a little stupid under such a gaze.

“Why would I want that?”

“Because you’re always going on about pride! I figured it might sting a little if you got teased for not making the first move, despite having such a cocky attitude. Besides, there are so many in Fiore who are sticklers for tradition, so many who would turn their nose up at a woman proposing, or be embarrassed by it...Wait, are you embarrassed? Is that why you’re so nervous?”

He snorted before laughing, bending over with the force of it. He quickly sobered up when she didn’t laugh with him, realising she was being serious. Incredulous, he shook his head.

“Really Lucy? Me? Why would I feel any embarrassment or shame? Are you forgetting who you’re talking to? I love the fact you proposed to me! If anyone wanted to argue the fact I’m not a man because my lovely lady wooed me and swept me off my feet. Well, they can tell me while they rest up in a hospital bed”

“Loke!”

She floundered, torn between scolding him for being so abrupt and laughing at the image of him glaring disapprovingly at someone in a hospital bed. He didn’t seem to notice her problem, rolling on through his argument, getting more and more energetic as he spoke. He stood up quickly, pacing a little as his arms and hands moved with his words.

“What? It’s true! I’m not ashamed to love you, nor that you loved me enough to get down on one knee. Human traditions like those have never really bothered me, the gender of the one declaring their love isn’t the important factor” 

“”What is the most important factor?”

“The love we feel for each other Lucy! The way my heart swelled at that moment, the way it exploded into love, worry, anticipation, all kinds of different warring and complementary emotions. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before. It probably would have been better without the fear of you regretting your proposal the moment I told you about the whole immortality deal, but here we are.”

“So you don’t care about what others think of it?”

“No of course not! I...I was worried you were ashamed, that you had to be the one to be brave and make the first move. It’s not my pride that would be hurt here Lucy, it’s the fact you chose a coward that would raise some eyebrows. The fact that the princess was braver than her knight and was able to get her act together quicker is my only shame.”

“If anyone calls you a coward then that hypothetical hospital of yours is going to get crowded. I’m not ashamed of you either. It makes sense you were nervous, I can't imagine the amount of spirits that must have been rejected over your long lives, it was a very real possibility that even if I did love you completely, I wouldn’t want to take that step. Thankfully for the both of us, I absolutely did want to”

To articulate her point, she finally crossed the gap between them, taking his hands in her own and squeezing them softly. His thumb absently rubbed her hand as he smiled down at her.

“I’m so glad you did, you’ve made my life so much better for it. I think I needed the push you gave me to even be able to think of us spending eternity together. So please, do that interview, be proud of how you strove for what you wanted. You were brave enough to ask me one of the hardest questions there is, own it Lucy...Then sign it for me when I buy the issue”

“Loke, you can't buy something just because I wrote some of it”

“Why not? One day I want to fill a room with everything you’ve written and published. Whether that be for magazines, newspapers or even your own books. Anything that has your touch I want, it’s special to me. If you’re in an article, like say ‘Lucy Heartfilia declared greatest author on Earthland’, then i’ll keep stuff like that too. Though I might need more than four walls to hold all your achievements, don’t you think so Lucy?”

If compliments could kill she’d be dead on her feet. As it was, she was stuck burning a hole into the floor with her eyes as she flushed a dark red. She muttered under her breath before gathering her strength to stare back up at him, not amused by his grin.

“I think you should leave me to my work, all your flirting is distracting me”

“You mean cleaning this office? Lucy that will take forever, I wanna take you home now”

“I know you do Loke, while I think it’s sweet you seem so...enthusiastic. I’m not in the mood for that kind of thing tonight, I just want to go home and sleep”

“What do you- Oh, you mean my earlier comment. My love, if all you want to do is cuddle, we’ll cuddle, but I need you home for that first”

“Then, ‘my love’, you need to stop distracting me with compliments and talks about interviews. I’ll never go home if I don’t get this done”

“Fine I guess, it’s not boring to watch you at work thankfully. You’re amazing regardless of what you do”

“If you keep this up, I'm going to have to gag you”

“Oooohhhh how kinky. Will you use your whip on me too?”

She could almost strangle him, almost. She had a feeling that strangling him with her whip would give him some form of sick pleasure, even if it was just an amused reaction. He had no sense of survival this man, it was dangerous for the both of them. She tried to move away from him, but his arms wrapped around her and pulled her to his chest. He rested his head on hers, letting out a small hum of happiness. She’d relax if it wasn’t for the dust piling up.

“I’m being serious here, I need to wor-”

She cut herself off with a loud yawn. He snorted before taking her and gently guiding her to her seat. He made sure she sat down, before gently kissing her forehead.

“There, what you need Lucy is rest. You aren’t doing anything until you relax, which is what I wanted to make you do when I came here. I got a bit distracted by your amazing article, but you’re too stressed. I can feel it all the way in the Celestial Spirit world. Jason should have realised he put too much work on you for your returning week. You’ve been running all over town fact checking and doing interviews for smaller pieces while trying to write your own. Now he’s making you clean?!”

“We did kinda push that honeymoon time a little far Loke, not that I didn’t enjoy it, but you convincing me to stay away an extra week really didn’t help. I missed out on a lot of work I need to catch up on. I also ended up missing a deadline or two, so this is probably my punishment for that.”

“I really couldn’t care less, you are sitting there until you are relaxed. I don’t care if I have to stand here all night”

“I could just close your gate”

The thought seemed to suddenly strike him, like in all his planning, he had forgotten about that. He levelled her with a small glare.

“You wouldn’t dare”

“Try me”

“I could just summon myself again. You’d close my gate again and it’ll be like some children's cartoon where none of us accomplishes anything. Orrrr, hear me out here, we could go with Plan B”

For the moment, he had her attention, her hand moved away from her keys, not that she was sure when it had gotten there. Probably part of the bluff, she could never really send him away during their personal time, she missed him too much. Not that she could ever tell him that.

“Plan B?”

He quickly moved behind her, hands coming to her shoulders.

“With your permission, I’m going to give you the best massage of your life”

She leaned back to stare up at him, amused by his antics.

“Oh really? The best?”

“Yep”

“I’m not paid to get massages Loke”

“Ah, but for all Jason knows, you did work all night”

“Not if the work isn’t-”

“Fall in spirits!”

With a flash of gold Virgo and Capricorn appeared side by side in the office. She was shocked, but from his smug grin, she had a feeling this was planned. 

“We’ll clean up Mrs Lucy while you relax, it is uncouth for a gentleman to let a lady stress so much.”

“Right princess, I’ll have this office cleaner than it has ever been”

“Guys, you don’t have to-”

There was a second flash of light, catching them all off guard. Gemini and Plue posed in what they thought was a dramatic entrance.

“We learned of Loke’s plan, we wanna help too!”

“Bu bu!”

“Guys I’m trying to tell you you don’t need to-”

There was a small pressure on her shoulders, she turned her attention back to her lion, who was finally looking serious about the whole thing.

“Lucy, I can feel the knots forming in your shoulders, there’s no harm in letting us help you with this, it’s not your proper job anyway. So relax, let them clean, while I help you find bliss. Then we can go home and you can cuddle up in bed all weekend if you want. I’ll cook for you, you won’t have to leave your room.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes!”

“Bu!”

The resounding cheer caught her by surprise. Leaving her no room to argue, they got to work, Gemini turning into Virgo to help the maid work faster. She almost got up to stop them but Loke gently held her back. 

“Ah, ah, ah. No going anywhere for you my lady, not until you’re putty in my hands”

She blushed at the double entendre, but pressed forward anyway.

“You’re not servants you know, you really don’t have to-”

“We know, we’re your family. You married into this crazy family and you’re not allowed to go back on it now. The Spirit King is allowing you to live a normal life before you become move to a life in the stars, you get to live out the average number of human years. I’ve convinced him it’s 100” He gave her a cheeky wink, but she had a sneaking feeling the Celestial Spirit King hadn’t been fooled. “You should spend that time having fun, not stressing out over dirty trophies. Because when you are fully accepted into the spirit world as my immortal wife we...we might all see less of each other”

He hugged her from behind, nuzzling the top of her head. She hadn’t thought of it that way. When she finally took her place in the stars permanently, she would have to give back her keys. She would see her husband regularly, presuming he wasn’t constantly summoned, but the others...She might barely see them. Loke realistically would have to fight them all again too, after all their work to strengthen their bonds. This short time she’d been given should be treasured...well it was the start of the weekend tomorrow.

“You’re right, say, how about a family picnic tomorrow? Let’s spend time together”

“Hmmm there are quite a few lovely spots around town, I’m sure everyone could make time for you Lucy”

As if to prove his point, she felt arms around her leg. Plue had given up trying to move things around and had plodded over to hug her leg instead. She picked him up, allowing him to sit comfortably on her lap.

“Bu!”

“I believe what he’s trying to say is that he'd love to come. If the invitation is extended to me Mrs Lucy, I would love to be there too”

“Of course it is! Every single one of my spirits is invited, could you tell them all I’ll summon them tomorrow?”

“It will be done as you ask”

“I’ll bring some food for the picnic princess”

“Us too!”

It was strange to see a beaming Virgo by a composed one, but that was Gemini for you. 

“Thank you...We could make it a potluck, everyone brings something!”

The look that Gemini gave her sent shivers down her spine, that spirit was planning something for sure.

“That sounds so fun Lucy, count us in for that”

“Sure, but I won’t touch whatever you bring”

“Awwww…”

“Now that’s sorted, I believe you’re owed the night of your life?”

“...You won’t take I’m busy for an answer will you?”

“Nope”

He moved back, releasing his hug to start working on her shoulders. He slowly started to rub against her shoulders, putting slight pressure against her muscles, just so they could both feel them moving under his fingertips. She relaxed against her chair, humming pleasure as he continued to try and find the knots in her muscles, applying more pressure when he did. The stress slowly started to flow out of her, the past week being forgotten, replaced by his kind words and ministrations. She caught herself mumbling his name as he did so, enjoying the feeling of his hands against her skin and making her melt.

“See? Who needs sex, when I can have you moaning for me with a touch?”

She almost slapped him, almost punched him when he laughed, but that would have stopped this amazing feeling. So she let him win, for now.

But tomorrow, well, she bet she could redirect Gemini’s obviously planned prank towards Loke, so he better watch out.


	2. An interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy has been given another tough job from work, will she be able to get her guest to sit still enough to answer her questions?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I needed to write some sweetness so I'm continuing this lovely fic, I hope you enjoy!

She sighed as she slowly paced her way through the streets of Crocus, muttering to herself as she did so, Jason really did give her all the strange articles to do, though perhaps this one took the cake.

She continued her amused musings as she stopped outside a home, subconsciously looking it up and down before opening the front door. She took her shoes off at the mat before strolling over and falling back into the soft pillows of a warm couch. Well, weird or not, at least she got to do this assignment at home, with all the perks it gave her. Grinning to herself, she got back up, it couldn’t hurt to make a cup of tea before she started right? Keep her motivated and all that…

A few minutes later she was back on the couch, steam floating out of a mug on the table in front of her. She had her tape recorder, pen and notebook, so it was time to begin. She took a deep breath before reaching for her keys, this was definitely going to be an interesting experience.

“I open the gate of the lion, Loke!”

The moment the words left her mouth he was suddenly beside her on the couch, eager as always for her company.

“Why hello there Lucy, you’re off work early aren’t you? Not that I mind all that much, it means we get more time together”

He scooted close to her, side against side, to illustrate his point. She could already see that this was going to be one of her harder jobs.

“Not quite Loke, I’m here for work, I have a favour to ask of you”

“Anything my love, you name it, it’ll be done”

“Well, i’m happy you’re so eager at any rate. We’ve had an increasing number of requests from your fan base for an interview, I think my article on our marriage may have sparked it. If it’s not a bother, can I interview you?”

She didn’t like the way his eyes slowly roved over her, or the way his lips curved into a smirk, something was going on here.

“You mean to tell me you’re getting paid to spend time with me? And that you can’t be rid of me until the interview is done? There’s a recipe for mischief if I’ve ever heard one”

She frowned up at him, deciding to be firm from the start.

“No extending the interview Loke, I need to be professional about this”

“Fine, fine, ask away, I’ll do the interview”

She beamed at him, sliding a contract over his way.

“I just need you to sign this stating you don't mind being interviewed or recorded. Jason likes to compare my notes to it when I submit my written copy.”

“They know I'm your spirit right? I don’t really have the same rights on Earthland that humans do, I'm surprised they cared enough.”

“They do and I made sure a proper contract was written out for you. I won’t have you taken advantage of by anyone, not even my boss.”

His smile softened as he took her pen to sign it. He looked at her like she was the world and she felt herself blush under his approval. She turned away as he signed, she didn't do this for his approval, just because it was the right thing to do, but it was still great to get it. Stars he was turning her into a sap.

“Thank you Lucy, here ya go”

“It’s no issue, tha- Are you serious?”

She stared down at the page incredulously. On the signature line he had drawn a circle with a curled line stemming from it, the Leo symbol.

“What? It’s technically who I am”

“I suppose, can’t be helpful for once could you? But fine, let’s start. I’m going to do some quick basic questions to get you introduced to our readers, then we’re going on to your little fanbase’s questions.”

“My ‘fanbase’ submitted questions?”

“Yeah, apparently there were calls for you to be interviewed but you turned them all down during your time at Fairytail. I get why you did, but now we’re married, it was figured now was a good time to wrangle you into one. Once that was announced we apparently got a ton of questions'' She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. “A team picked the popular ones and gave them to me. I haven't actually read this properly yet so I guess we’ll both be surprised. Do you have any questions about this?”

“Nope, sounds like fun actually”

“Then let’s begin. At any time, if it’s needed I can turn off the tape recorder and pause the interview, ok?” A swift nod from him and she put her notes on her lap, picking up the recorder and turning it on. “Lucy Heartfilia here, interviewing a heavily requested guest, care to introduce yourself?”

He beamed at her, getting into character.

“Why yes I will. The names Loke, all you lovely ladies can finally stop waiting”

The next question seemed redundant, but Jason always pressed them to get as much information as possible. Still, she could play along with him to keep it interesting.

“Got a full name there hot stuff?”

He raised a brow in amusement, eyeing her up and clearly trying to hold himself back. 

“Yeah, it’s Loke lion-”

He stopped himself short, frowning to himself. Despite her non verbal prompting he remained silent. She paused the recording.

“You alright?”

“Hm? I’m fine, it’s just, I don’t usually think of my surname, it’s not really important” 

“You’ve forgotten it?”

“No! But I wonder if I should change it to Heartfilia, in all the rush of our wedding I forgot it’s a human tradition to change your name”

That’s what was bothering him? She’d honestly about it forgotten too, it had seemed so insignificant compared to starting a new life in the stars.

“It’s tradition for a woman to take her husband's name Loke. If you want to go down that route neither of us would have Heartfilia as our surname.”

His brow somehow ceased further, apparently not best pleased with what he’d heard.

“I don’t want you to give up everything you had as a human, your family name is a connection to your old life, your memories both good and bad…”

“The same could be said for yours too, we’ve both become very different people in the time we’ve known each other”

“You have a point, so then maybe…” He nodded to himself, grinning at her. “OK i’m ready to answer the question now”

“You’re sure?”

“Yup”

With his confirmation she wrote a small note to use the second take of this question then turned the recorder on.

“Do you have a second name Loke?”

He pouted at the lack of a nickname but barrelled on regardless.

“Interesting story. We’re married now, as you obviously know, so I figured there needed to be a name change. Apparently the tradition is the wife loses her family name, so you’d gain the surname Lionheart, but we’ve not been very traditional about this. So how about a name that instead reminds us of our past but also symbolises our new future together? So then I thought, how about merging our names? They both have heart in so it becomes Lionheartfilia, or Lion-heartfilia? Lionheart-filia? I’m still working out whether it should be hyphenated”

Really?! This dork! Still, it did sound nice, she had to fight the rising joy inside her, couldn't let him know she approved, not yet anyway. She wondered how long it would be before she could get a plaque on her desk that read that as her name. She got the feeling it would be very motivating to see that on her desk.

“Ok, thank you for that. Next question, why did you join Fairytail?”

To his credit, he actually appeared to be thinking things over before he spoke, she appreciated it, now if only the things he said reflected that.

“Well, at first, it was a distraction. I was going through a...hard time and my actions back then were an attempt to keep my mind off it. It didn’t always work but I came to enjoy my time at Fairytail and the company of the friends I had made. So I guess I stayed for them and the chance to actually do  _ some  _ good’

His smile was too self deprecating for her liking. she nudged his leg with her foot, the best way for her to tell him to cheer up that she had right now.

“Well, personally, I’m glad you stayed.” There we go, it was a relief to see his expression melt into something more warm, even if the way he was looking at her made her feel all funny. “Last catch up question before we go onto the ones submitted by your fans. Why did you move to Crocus?”

He shrugged, nonchalant, even though the readers couldn’t really see it.

“Because Lucy wanted to”

She waited for clarification that never came. Was he really going to give her such a short answer?! She sighed, turning off the recording, ignoring his confusion.

“Loke, please don’t make it sound like I dragged you here against your will, could you elaborate for me?”

“Oh right, sorry, hit me with it again”

“Right” Making another note she turned the recording back on. “Why did you move to Crocus?”

“Sadly, Fairytail has disbanded and everyone quickly split up and went away. I don't have anywhere to go, nowhere I needed to be. Lucy, my friend and now wife, was moving here to start her journalistic career, so of course I came along to support her. It was a no brainer really”

“And I thank you for that, your support really helped me through those first few articles. Now, moving on to fan questions”

“Should be fun”

“We’ll start with a simple one, do you have any hobbies?”

She didn’t like the mischievous sparkle in his eyes as he grinned down at her.

“Well, I do like a lot of exercise and training. I enjoy keeping fit and strenuous activities aren’t really a problem for me, I even have a few favourite night time activities.”

He patted her knee and she fought the urge to roll her eyes, best not encourage him. she wasn’t surprised that his hand stayed on her knee as she continued.

“I’ve noticed myself you like a lot of rough one on one” A small noise from him as he tried not to choke on his own spit.  _ Ha! How’d you like that? _ Probably a lot, but she counted it as a victory. “You used to do a lot of running too, you were constantly running around when I first joined Fairytail. So I suppose anyone interested could catch you out jogging.”

He pouted at her, not impressed by her bringing up such an embarrassing memory for him. He was always complaining that he wished he could go back and slap his past self.

“I suppose. Apart from that I do consider myself a romantic and enjoy the arts. Poetry, novels, paintings, plays, the like.”

“So that’s where you get your corny one liners from, it all makes sense now” He nudged her with his foot, a playful reaction to her teasing, considering he couldn’t stop grinning. “Seems an easy question, but do you have a favourite place to hang out?”

“Your home is where I always end up, regardless of whether you’re here or not. I enjoy living with you”

The blush came to her cheeks unbidden as she quickly tried to move him along.

“Anywhere else?”

“I do like the natural beauty of this town, though I’ve yet to find somewhere more beautiful than you”

One hand stayed on her knee while the other slung around her shoulders, resting around her. She paused the recording to glare at him past her reddening cheeks.

“Can you please try and be professional? Or at least keep your flirting out of the interview?”

“So I can flirt with you now?” At her unimpressed glance, he sighed. “I’m sorry Lucy, it’s just I get more time with you today and I’m a little excited”

“A little?”

“Ok, Ok, a lot. But can you blame me? On weekdays I don’t get to see you until the evening usually. On really busy weeks I barely get to see you at all! So I'm probably taking a little advantage of the situation. I do love doling affection on you, I need to in fact. I’ll die if I don’t”

He nuzzled her to help underline his very serious point and she felt her frustration melt away. It was hard to stay angry at this affectionate idiot. He did have a point, the more they worked her the less they saw of each other. There have been plenty of days, too many if you asked her, where she’d gone straight from work to bed. She did honestly miss him, even if he was a dork.

“Fine, but keep it to a minimum alright? I do need to get this finished. I swear if your answer for this next question, your favourite colour, is the colour of my eyes, you’re in trouble”

“Nonsense Lucy, it’s yellow, a colour that shines as brightly as you...and reminds me of your pretty hair”

“ _ Loke!” _

“Alright! I don’t want to have to keep repeating answers either. I promise to be incredibly professional from here on out.”

Is what he said and yet somehow, nearing the end of the interview, she was in his lap with his arms wrapped around her stomach and chin on her shoulder. He was looking like the cat that had got the cream. At least she was nearly through the questions. She quickly read the last one to herself, stopping to reread it and make sure she’d gotten it correct. She frowned as she paused the recording, something gnawing at her gut.

“You alright there Lucy?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah” She quickly crumpled up the piece of paper, no longer needing it. There was a few questions on that list she hadn’t liked, that last one took the cake and ran away with it “Let’s get this finished”

“Awww, no more questions? Sure you didn’t skip any?”

“If I did it was to prevent you from embarrassing yourself further. Your dream and goal in life is to spend eternity with me?”

She felt him nod against her, could feel his dorky smile against her cheek.

“Yes! It was completely unfair of you to make me change the answer”

Right, because ‘To spend all my days with those I care about’, wasn’t sickly sweet enough.

“Whatever, let’s just wrap this up” She switched on the recorder for hopefully the last time. “Thank you Loke for answering all those questions and agreeing to this well anticipated interview.”

“It was my pleasure, you’re free to interview me anytime”

“Of course...Well this is Lucy Lionheartfilia signing out, thank you all our readers for your support!”

She sighed as she switched off the recorder.  _ There, that's finally done. _ She tried to stand, but Loke’s grip around her had tightened, his face hidden in the crook of her neck.

“Loke, I need to-”

“You used our combined name, it sounded so amazing coming from you, let’s keep it”

The awe in his voice made her pause. She hadn’t really thought about it, but something about his name next to hers made her feel all warm and gooey inside.

“I like it, it symbolises our bond and new future together. I love you, so of course I want to adopt the name of my husband”

There was a small whine by her ear, her only warning before he started kissing her silly. Placing eager kisses up her neck and onto her cheek.

“I love you so much, so, so, very much”

“I know, I love you too my lion”

He nuzzled her, a part of her wondering if it was his lion's instinct to scent mark her, he did do that an awful lot, before hugging her closer to him. She allowed him and herself the moment, allowed herself to sink completely into the unlimited depths of his love, before gently tapping his arm. Unfortunately, she did have a job to do.

“I’m sorry but I have to get up, I’m not being paid to be cuddled by you, though I wish that were the case. I’d be a millionaire in no time”

He was conflicted between appreciating her joke and objecting to her leaving, expression a struggle between a grin and a frown. 

“Must you? I really want to cuddle with you”

If only he knew how reluctant she was to leave. But if she didn’t do this write up there’d be hell in the morning.

“I must, but think of it like this. The sooner I finish up writing this draft for Jason to check tomorrow, the sooner you can get back to doting all your affection on me”

“...You promise?”

“I promise”

He sighed heavily before reluctantly letting her go. Unable to stand seeing him so put down, she tilted her head so she could plant a small kiss on his cheek. She stood up, smiling a little at his own returning grin.

“Lucy, you tease”

“Just a little something to help tide you over” She shot him a wink, he really was a bad influence on her, before moving to a bin to toss the questions away. Looking around the room, an idea came to her. “If you’re that bored, there's chores to be done” 

He was still a little surprised by the kiss, so it took a moment for him to process her words. A moment passed before he answered.

“If I do them then I suppose the time will go quicker and it means you won't have to worry about it while we snuggle, which can only mean more Lucy time." He nodded to himself, easily won over. "Alright, I'll do my best!"

He seemed energetic as he stood, eager to help out. He was so easily motivated, it was sorta worrying. If the wrong person found out he’d move the world for cuddles who knows what would happen?

"Great! This place needs a general tidy, the trash needs disposing of and if I give you some jewels will you stock up on groceries for me?"

"Not only will I make sure you have everything you need, you won't need to pay me either"

"But-"

"Nope, I won't accept any money. I can afford to support you, so please let me"

He faced her, wide eyed and pleading, it broke her down too quickly for her own liking, she needed a serious conversation with herself, she couldn't even last a second with him looking so pathetic!

"Fine... Better than you spending loads on a restaurant or something to treat me I suppose"

He physically brightened, all traces of ever being even remotely sad gone in a flash.

"Thanks Lucy! Better do that first before you change your mind. But before I sadly leave you, may I have something sweet to ease the bitterness?"

She couldn’t stop the reactionary eye roll, that had been awful, even for him, still, it was hard to resist such a tempting offer.

"Oh come here you massive dork!"

She held out her arms and he practically dived over to hug her, squeezing her tightly before gently kissing her cheek. She kissed his in return before softly capturing his lips. It was a chaste kiss, the slightest heat at that moment could spark a trip to the bedroom, but it was still filled with her love. She stepped back, giving him space before he latched on and never let go.

“I’ll see you in a bit, yeah?”

“Yeah, you can count on that, just don’t miss me too much ok?”

“You’re literally just going shopping, knowing you, you’ll be gone five minutes if that” He pouted, clearly upset she wasn’t playing along. She sighed, she hated to encourage him, but the truth was probably the best way to go. “I’ll miss you though, this place is always a little lighter with you in it”

As she guessed, he immediately lit up again, grinning toothily at her.

“My world is brighter when I see you so I understand, don’t worry, I’ll be as quick as possible!”

“Yeah, yeah, now shoo, I swear you take longer to leave then it takes you to actually do anything for me. You could have been there and back by now” 

“Right, right, see ya later”

And with that he finally left, only just remembering to close the door behind him as he shot out, desperate to return back to her as soon as possible. She hummed in amusement as she gathered up all her notes, he really was adorable. 

She sat down at her desk, ready to plow through it all without distractions, or at least minimal distraction. He wasn’t the only one who wanted to spend the day together after all, she saw a romantic lunch for two at her dinner table in their immediate future and nothing was more motivating than that. 


	3. The aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now Loke's interview is out in the open, Lucy might get a small surprise of her own.

True to his word, after she had finally finished her write up and he’d finished his chores, he’d pulled her into a hug, fallen down onto the couch and cuddled her. They’d stayed there until her stomach declared it wanted that romantic dinner she’d been fantasising about. Sure it was something she’d just slapped into the oven and she only had one candle in the whole entire house, but they’d made it work and they both enjoyed it.

She whistled as she made her way home from work, she’d really had some fun that night. Though he’d gotten incredibly affectionate, forcefully so even. He was constantly reminding her of how much he wanted to be with her and how much he loved her. It was sweet, but also rather worrying. She’d gone to bed rather unsure of herself and what was going on. Especially since he’d stayed the night and spent the entire time wrapped up in her.

Her whistling quietened down as she frowned, remembering what had happened the day after. He’d made her breakfast in bed, a lovely gesture, walked her to work then had a secret meeting with Jason, all really strange. Well two of them weren’t strange, in fact she was surprised they didn’t happen more often, but why had he felt the need to talk to her boss? Neither spoke a word about what happened between them so all she could do was guess. It’d been a week since, the issue was out now and nothing had happened, no big event or anything. Maybe he really just wanted a chat?

She sighed as she stopped at a magazine store, that excuse sounded stupid even to her. Well, whatever he was up to it hadn’t gotten her into any trouble so she’d let it pass, for now she was going to do a small favour for him. The issue containing his interview had finally been published, knowing how popular it was going to be she’d called ahead to keep a copy, and he wanted it. Why he couldn’t just buy it himself she wasn’t sure, but it was nice to do something for him for a change. 

It was a quick and easy interaction with the shopkeeper and minutes later she was walking back home with the magazine in hand. She couldn’t wait to pass it over to him, though she got the feeling she was in for a night of gloating about how popular he was. As she walked through Crocus, her curiosity got the better of her. It had been one thing to do the interview, but she really wanted to see it in black and white. Loke could wait for a few more minutes while she read it right? She was getting a little jittery just thinking about it, about how people were going to get a small glance into who he was. She was honestly incredibly happy for him. Unable to hold back that joy she stepped to one side of the street to take a quick look at it. 

She skimmed through the pages until she got to her interview and slowly started to read. Feeling her smile widened as certain parts brought up silly memories. How he’d flirted with her after that sentence, how he’d held her as he spoke about his thoughts on the world. She giggled to herself as she read his answer on his thoughts on Fairytail, remembering how he’d almost gone cheeky and gossiped about them. It'd taken a firm glare to stop him teasing them through her interview, she really didn’t need that. He’d been so silly but it’d been one of the most fun interviews she’d ever done, though she might have some bias towards him. As she got to the bottom she was surprised by an extra paragraph after her farewells. What in the world could that be about?

She cautiously read on, the world silencing around her as she focused only on the words in front of her. Her heart stopped and she was hit by a strong swirl of emotions. A strange mixture of joy, pride, love and a few tears. It was the strange whirlwind inside her that stirred her to pull out his key. His name barely left her lips before he was there at her side, grinning ear to ear.

“Why hello my love, did you get me the magazine?”

She turned to face him properly, eyes watering as she fought to keep her voice under control.

“W-what’s this? What did you do?”

He looked around, humming slightly.

“I wanted to talk about this at your home but I guess we can do this here. When I was doing your chores last night I got a bit curious...I took a quick look at the questions you were given and one near the end was of particular interest to me”

She froze as she was hit with it all over again.

_ Do you think you’d ever leave Lucy? _

It was a simple enough question, he probably would have gone on a small ramble about how she was the air he breathed, his every heartbeat, his reason for living and on and on until he finally stated no, he wasn’t going to ever leave her. She was pretty confident that’s what his answer would have been anyway, so there were no problems there. The problem was the more rabbid part of his fanbase. 

It was a beast she’d faced before and knew that while most would coo at his cute reply, there would be those that would find any weakness in his words. They would look for any sign he was unhappy and use it to encourage themselves to get between them, to tell him to leave her. She didn’t want to deal with that stress so had reasonably left it out. It still gave her slight chills though.

“Are you alright?...Daft question, of course you’re not. But you needn’t worry my love, there’s nothing that would make me leave you”

“I know that, but why would you do this?”

He shrugged, rather calm and relaxed considering her inner turmoil.

“Well you said that those were only a select few of the questions sent right? Well I wanted to make sure it was the only one like that...It unfortunately wasn’t” He frowned, looking down. She could have easily guessed there were lots more like it, but it wasn’t probably the best time to mention it. “Some were much less subtle in their wording than others...For lack of a better phrase it really pissed me off. It’s my response to them all. I did it properly, got it all recorded and stuff. Oh, you can have this back by the way”

He casually reached into his pocket and pulled it out of his pocket and gently tossed it to her. She caught it, quickly tucking the magazine under her arm and looked it over.

“So if I play this then…?”

“Then you’ll hear it not just see it”

She looked around to make sure she wouldn’t disturb anyone, before pressing play.

“Hey everyone, Loke Lionheartfilia here, yes Lionheartfilia, that’s not going to change. Lucy doesn’t know i’m doing this, consider it a secret answer to all those questions I caught wind of. No, I’m not going to leave Lucy, nor will I ever think of leaving her. I love her with all of my very being and she loves me, we’re happy together. Not even in our darkest moments filled with grief or anger will I want to leave her. Even if we do argue and scream at each other, the moment I’ve calmed down I will be back to her and I know she’d be back to me, we’d apologise and move on. No matter how harsh she might be in those heated moments, I will never hate her, just like I know she won’t hate me.” He paused for a moment, he sounded choked up as he continued, like he was holding back tears. “The thought of her hating me or doing something to drive her away kills me, it eats away at my very soul. So  _ please _ , if you can't be happy for us, leave her alone. This is your only warning, I will not tolerate anyone trying to tear us apart, regardless of the reason. Thank you for listening to me and thank you Jason for letting me reply like this, goodbye”

Reading it had been one thing, hearing it had been so much worse. Hearing the way his voice cracked as his emotions poured over, it set her tearing up again. He was quickly at her side, wiping them away, doing his best to smile brightly at her. 

“It’s ok my love, I’m right here”

“I know, I know you are, thank you”

She smiled at him, genuine and from the heart. He went to take her hands, but instead ended up pouting when he realised how full they were. He took her recorder back, placing it in his pocket before holding out his hand. 

“I’ll have my magazine now, thank you for getting it for me”

“Oh, yeah, no problem”

She dutifully handed it over, though it wasn’t in his hands for long before his magic sent it away to the spirit world. Now that her hands were free he gladly held onto them with his own.

“There that’s much better. We’ll be together forever...I was kind of surprised by how far some people are willing to go but nothing will split us up!”

She snorted, giving him a not so amused grin.

“I wasn’t overly surprised, your fanbase can come on a little strong”

He tilted his head in thought, humming slightly.

“Yeah there were a few girls that got a bit too touchy feely”

“And there was that time they chased me out of the guild”

“....They what?”

Oh stars, hadn’t he heard about that? Well this was slowly getting awkward. As if he could sense her sudden need to run, his grip tightened. Well, she was stuck, oh joy.

“Yeah, after you saved me from those sleazy men back then. You broke up with all your girlfriends and because Mira pointed them my way, they all assumed I was to blame. I got chased for a bit before I was able to lose them and retreat to my home” 

He groaned loudly in response, hanging his head in what she hoped wasn’t shame. He had no reason to be.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise that happened”

“It’s alright, I did slap you so we’ll call it even”

He looked up at her, eyes widened in surprise, before he snorted. A beat before he started chuckling, pulling her into a hug.

“You really are the best Lucy, to put up with all this”

She held him back, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle. He had a point and at the time it had stressed her out, events like that were probably going to be stressing her out for a long time. She could easily let jealousy get to her but, he wasn’t like that anymore. He wasn’t the womaniser that he was back then, he legitimately wanted a relationship. If it took a while for others to listen to that, then it wasn’t truly his fault.

“I think I'm just going to have to make peace with the fact that no matter how many eons pass by you will always turn peoples heads. You’re just too damn handsome for your own good”

She could feel his grin widening against her cheek, no doubt pleased by her praise. Her words always went straight to his head.

“They can look Lucy, but only you can touch, I hope you know that. Though I don’t know why you’re saying that like you don’t turn people’s heads”

“Because I don’t?”

He pulled back, an eyebrow raised as he seemed to be stunned into silence. Incredulous, he shook his head at her, trying to work out what to say. 

Now don’t get her wrong, she knew she was pretty, beautiful even, but she wasn’t the type of girl to turn heads, she couldn’t be. Whenever she’d said to use her as a distraction, her friends had always claimed it wouldn’t work, it definitely didn’t work on shopkeepers anyway. Then there was the constant mentioning of how heavy she was, it just didn’t seem to fit. She may have been sexy to him and perhaps a few others, but she was never going to be the type of person you read in novels, where as she walked down the street, men all turned to watch her walk by. Honestly, she was happy to not get that type of attention, she only needed his. As long as he saw her as beautiful, it was the only male approval she needed. Still she heard him sigh in disbelief before he spoke.

“Do you really not notice? The amount of times I’ve had to scare away men who were looking you over, it’s a bit worrying if you don’t see that Lucy.” He let go of her to place his hands on her shoulders, staring straight into her eyes. “Listen to me and listen to me good, you get people’s attention, I have to keep my arm around you and my best glare on to keep them at bay, do you understand?”

She wracked her brain to try and think of what he was talking about, but she really hadn’t noticed. When they walked together she was always too focused on him, on their conversation or where they were going together, other people didn’t really matter. She’d have to become more aware if what he was saying was true. Still, one example sprung to mind immediately.

“I guess there was that one guy who wouldn’t leave me alone. It was kinda annoying actually that even my friends didn’t help me push him off during the moments of peace between our teams.”

He paused, before finally moving his hands off her and frowning.

“I’m unable to think of who you mean Lucy”

“Hm? Oh a guy named Dan Straight, a member of the Legion corps. He’s a bit dopey and his love is fickle but when he sets his sights on you he’ll do anything to get you.... Even shrink you down and promise to keep you as a lucky charm”

His frown grew deeper, anger seeping through him causing him to twitch slightly. His voice was cold when he spoke.

“He did  _ what  _ to you?! Am I going to have to pay this man a visit? Also why didn’t you summon me?”

Probably shouldn’t have mentioned that to her over protective husband, hopefully he won’t notice if she ignores that first part.

“He’ll probably show up at Fairytail in due time, we’ll have to explain we’re together now and I’m not his soulmate”

“Course you’re not, you’re my soulmate”

He was getting huffier now, pouting slightly, but she continued on.

“While I was shrunk my spirits were too, so you wouldn’t have been able to help. But Virgo did summon herself to distract him away from me, she could tell you more about him”

“Strange that his magic affected us without striking us specifically, that’s almost scary...still if he chases you now he’s a dead man”

And that was why she hadn’t summoned him, even back then he was incredibly protective of her, to the point he would have torn that man apart. It was probably for the best they moved on, before he popped a blood vessel.

“It’ll be fine once he knows Loke, just forget about him for now yeah? It’s all over and done with”

“As much as I love your forgiving nature, it can be really annoying sometimes. You constantly make friends with those who have nearly beat you to death, it’s not good for my heart”

She nodded, sympathetic to his plight. It was probably really hard on him, what with his intense desire to protect her, but it was incredibly hard for her to hold a grudge. It seemed to be not so hard for him though.

“Well, let’s go home. I wanted to thank you for these lovely words and we’re souring the moment with talk of other men”

That caught his attention and he slowly started to smile again.

“A treat? All for me?”

“Yes Loke, just for you”

He moved by her side, ready to go, before he suddenly stopped, turning his head to look at her, amused.

“...You’re trying to distract me...but I’ll allow it. I wanna know how you’ll reward me for being such a great husband”

He took her arm in his own and she giggled, glad to be back on track with him.

“Keep up with the ego and you won’t get anything”

“Ah, ah, ah, you can't go back on your word now”

“Can’t I?”

“ _ Lucy” _

She bubbled into laughter, teasing him was always fun, even as he bumped her hip with his own to gently knock her.

“You’re a vixen, you know that?”

“Perhaps, but you love me this way”

“Yes, yes I do Lucy”

She led him back home, where she treated him to a relaxing day filled with love and more of her cooking. It was perfect for the both of them, just how they always wanted it to be.


	4. Nice try, Gemini

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gemini finds out that Lucy can figure out who they are, chaos and a little understanding ensures.

“Why hello there sweetie, how are you doing?”

She smiled down at her desk, draft of her next chapter in front of her. That voice only belonged to one person and one person alone. 

She turned to face Loke, having apparently summoned himself again. He grinned at her, hands in his jacket pocket, relaxed as he could be. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit Sir knight?”

“Why do I need a reason to visit my beautiful princess? Though I guess you’re a queen now hmm?”

A typical Loke response, flirty and complimentary, yet her brain was still nudging her about something. A small alarm had pinged up in her mind and it had everything to do with him. It was a bit confusing as there seemed to be nothing physically wrong with him. She hummed as she looked him over.

“A queen who married the king of the jungle?”

“Exactly! Though I definitely got the better deal, since I married the queen of the stars”

He was smiling softly at her, but it was all wrong, was something the matter with him? She wasn’t completely sure why it even looked wrong, but it was starting to make her uncomfortable. There was something in the way he was holding himself, the way his smile didn’t look quite right, his eyes weren’t the same level of warmth. Was there a problem he was hiding?

“Wouldn’t that mean I married the Celestial Spirit King?”

He paused, frowning as he was unable to think up an appropriate response. Where was his small pout that he did when he was upset with her? Or when she teased him? 

“Well that’s a bit rude of you Lucy, I was trying to be nice”

She flinched slightly, stars he must really be in a bad mood. It was subtle, but his tone was slightly off. Had she really upset him somehow? She couldn’t remember angering him or arguing with him, that couldn’t be the reason surely? He wasn’t the type to hold a grudge with her, anyone else yes, but he usually quickly forgave her. So unless she’d somehow secretly done something grievous, he couldn’t be mad at her, so what was eating at him? It was so strange, he seemed so off, it was like someone was pretending-

She sighed, pieces suddenly coming together, shaking her head as she turned away.

“It was a nice try Gemini, but you’ll have to do better than that”

There was a splutter behind her before they quickly regained their composure.

“What are you talking about Lucy? I’m Loke, not Gemini. Surely you can tell us apart? I’m your loving husband”

She snorted, taking their key from her side and holding it out to them.

“So if I close an open gate with their key, you’re going to stay right there yes?”

There was a staredown, her will going up against theirs. Unfortunately for them, she didn’t have time to mess around with them, nor the patience.

“I close-”

“Wait!” There was a puff of smoke and Loke disappeared to reveal the terror twins themselves. “We’re sorry, please don’t close our gate!”

She knew it! No wonder he’d seemed off. Honestly, should she feel insulted they thought they could trick her like this? She put down their key and fully turned to face them, an eyebrow raised as she tried to figure out what they were up to. 

“So, do I get an explanation or what?”

They plodded over to her, having the sense to look a little ashamed.

“We were trying to pull a prank on you and Loke”

“Yeah by making it seem he did some stupid stuff and then leave! You’d be all angry and summon him and he’d get told off by you”

“Which would be super fun to watch!”

They giggled in unison and a small part of her was glad they were technically on her side and meant her no malice, they would be truly horrific otherwise.

“Isn’t that a bit mean?”

“But he’s been hogging all your attention!”

“Yeah acting all like he’s your favourite and only he gets to summon himself to be with you”

“ _ That’s mean!” _

They yelled that last part in chorus and she sighed. Had her silly lion been making an idiot of himself again? It wouldn’t surprise her if he had gone overboard in his affections for her, nor that he apparently talked their ears off about her. They’d need to have a serious talk about understanding that not everyone wants to hear him talk on and on about her. Not everyone needs a list of apparently cute things she’d done that day, she barely needed it, nevermind anyone else.

“Has he been gloating about our time together?”

“No”

“Our marriage?”

“Nope”

“Has he been showing off my gifts to him?” At their synchronised shakes of their heads she frowned, not following their argument. “Then what’s the problem?”

“He gets to spend every day with you all the time”

“And Plue!”

“And Plue! What about the rest of your spirits Lucy?”

She could hear the undertones as loudly as if they had shouted it.  _ What about us?!  _ She could almost laugh, but that probably wouldn’t be the best thing to do in front of two already upset spirits. The poor things were clearly jealous, well there was an easy way to fix that.

“Well I’m working on my book right now, so I don’t know how interesting my company would be, but would you like to spend the evening with me?”

_ “YES” _

Before she could even second guess herself, they had raced over and were on her lap, using her to peak over at her draft. They couldn’t quite reach the paper thankfully, so instead looked up at her, suddenly bombarding her with questions.

“What’s happening?”

“Is it action packed?”

“Romantic?”

“Spoooky?”

“ _ Tell us!” _

She sighed, they were like looking after two children, turning back to her desk to try and explain the scene she wanted to write. The twins listened to her eagerly, giving her lots of excited feedback. She wouldn’t ever tell the two troublemakers, would never give them the satisfaction, but they actually helped her past an awful part she had been stuck on writing for weeks. Their honest opinions helped lighten her mood and helped her fix a plot hole she’d been stressing over. All in all, a good day, they even got ice cream for dessert afterwards and shared the evening chatting and teasing each other. There was no way Gemini could think she didn’t want them to spend time with her now right?

And yet, their visits continued. As the week passed on, it seemed to become a game to try and catch her off guard. They kept showing up while she was at work, while she was training or even while she was trying to get a nap in. Yet each time she was able to guess it wasn’t them, even with the real Loke making his usual appearances. It was getting kind of tiring but it seemed to be making them happy so she could deal with it.

She was out for a refreshing walk in the lovely sun. It was a rare day off and she was planning to finally get some peace and quiet. Well, until Loke or Gemini invariably found out she was off anyway. Until then she could see what Crocus had to offer her on this fine day and enjoy the sights of the city. She made her way through its streets, popping into stores and taking in the bustling atmosphere.

She got about an hour by herself before she felt the inevitable pull of Celestial magic. She’d been wondering when he was going to show himself, and almost told him as much, as Loke(?) finally showed up in a shimmer of gold. He bowed flamboyantly, beaming at her.

“Why hello there my lovely lady, you’re skiving off work? How naughty of you!”

She snorted as he straightened himself out, his grin having turned mischievous. His eyes gleamed with a strange delight, before he turned his face away. She hated to cut it short but she couldn’t have him thinking she was a slacker, though he would probably argue her case that she deserved a day off.

“No silly, Jason gave me the day off because of all the hard work i’ve been doing”

“Shame, I thought I was starting to be a positive influence on you”

“Don’t you mean a negative one? If I acted like you I’d do nothing but flirt with you all day”

“I don’t see anything wrong with that, honestly I’d enjoy it if you flirted with me more. While we’re on that subject, why didn’t you call for me earlier?”

“A girl’s not allowed some alone time?”

He shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. He took a hesitant step back, looking upset with himself. He still wasn’t properly looking at her, but now it was worse, looking at the ground miserably. She hadn’t realised her words would hit such a sore spot or she wouldn’t have joked around with him. She almost took them back before he cut in, interrupting her.

“Of course you are. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise that’s what you were after. I’ll ju-”

She raised a hand to quieten the oncoming apology and quick exit. Her smile turned soft as she stood by him and looked out into the crowd, her hand close to his own.

“I’ve had some time on my own, I wouldn’t mind some company if that’s ok?”

His energy was back, practically shaking where he stood and yet…

“I’d love to, where should we go first Lucy? I know some good couple spots”

She quickly glanced downward and hummed, walking away from him without any resistance. It was such a shame really, surely they’d figured this out?

“Yeah Let’s go, but ya know, if you want to spend time with me you can just ask...Gemini”

Shocked eyes widened as they gaped at her, a rather unattractive look for Loke, but a funny one regardless. She let them recover, though their argument was weak at best.

“I’m not Gemini Lucy, I really am Loke”

“Right, does he know you’re going around pretending to be him? I should probably summon him and ask-”

“NO”

Seeing him seem so scared was heartbreaking, the feeling didn’t change when his image was replaced by Gemini, the twins returning to their true form. She didn’t take pleasure in upsetting her spirits, but if she wasn’t careful she was going to walk headfirst into their trap.

“So what is it this time? Going to show up as me in my pyjamas and embarrass me?”

“No, though that is fun”

Of course it was, geez they were a handful.

“We wanted to spend time with you again”

“Though we were hoping to trick you this time”

Oh? A lightbulb went off and she couldn’t help the small, satisfied smirk. Maybe they really were becoming an influence on her, she shivered at the thought. 

“Did I wound your pride? By always being able to guess who you were?”

They surprised her by crossing their arms and glaring up at her. They were very clearly trying to look upset, but a guilty part of her pointed out how cute they looked and that’s what her brain decided to run away with.

“That is part of it, we wanna know how you did it!”

“Yeah! How are you able to figure us out so quickly?!”

“If you want to know you could just become me and find out”

“ _ That’s cheating! _ ”

Well excuse her! She hadn’t expected such a snappy reaction, but she supposed their pride was on the line here and some spirits treasured that more than others. She could attest to that personally. 

“Alright then. You’re free to try and work it out but please don’t be a bother to the other spirits.”

“Don’t worry, the only spirit we’re going to bother is Loke”

“And he deserves it”

“ _ So it’s ok!” _

Ouch, she felt that and it wasn’t even her that dig was aimed at. She was almost positive he didn’t deserve such animosity, but she also didn’t see him constantly. For all she knew they’d had a falling out or something, it was something to ask him about anyway.

“If you say so, but please don’t do anything that will embarrass him while you’re pretending to be him”

“ _ We can't promise that” _

Of course they couldn’t, that would be too easy. She groaned, suddenly getting the bad feeling this was going to be one of her most stressful days off ever. She trudged down the path, with Gemini skipping along cheerfully beside her, either oblivious or uncaring towards her pain.

That night, after the day with Gemini went surprisingly well, she decided to try and get to the bottom of this. The twins had been no help when it came to gathering information, focusing instead on the day with her then how it came about. It was frustrating to think about and also more than a little upsetting. Her friends were fighting but seemed unwilling, for reasons she couldn’t work out, to discuss this with her or even ask her for help. Was it for personal reasons? Or was she still just that untrustworthy? Whatever it was, she didn’t want to keep getting caught up in it, it ended tonight.

With a small nod she put her hand on a familiar key and called on her husband. The lion spirit didn’t keep her waiting long, holding out his arms as he appeared.

“Lucy, my one true love, are you ready to jump into my arms?”

She mumbled to herself as she sat down at her desk, he really couldn’t read the atmosphere could he?

“No Loke, not right now. Actually i’m here to talk about something important”

He hummed in thought, arms dropping, tilting his head just so as he mused on her words.

“Wondering what to do for our one year anniversary perhaps? It is rather far away but it is better to be well prepared for it!”

“No, not quite, though I do worry what kind of ‘surprise’ you have in store. No I want to talk about whatever's going on with you and Gemini”

He strangely looked incredibly confused, staring at her blankly. When he did finally respond to her, it definitely wasn’t in the way she had expected.

“A thing with Gemini? I’m not sure I quite understand what you mean, is there a rumour going round that I’m involved with them? I’m not about to cheat on you for another spirit Lucy”

Did he not know? It would be a bit strange for Gemini to be quiet about how they felt, but he was the leader of the celestial spirits, maybe that was a bit intimidating?

“No that’s not what I meant. I mean that Gemini is upset at something, I thought it was at you specifically but it might not be. Do you have any idea what the matter is? I’m not getting a straight answer”

“I didn’t know anything was wrong, I’m sorry, has anything happened recently?”

She rubbed her arms as she thought over his words, feeling small goosebumps on her skin. The nights were getting cooler again, oh joy. 

How should she explain this? She didn’t want Gemini to come off as jealous, even if they were, nor did she want to upset him by suggesting that they were angry with him. Both would upset him, he hated hurting his family and friends more than anything.

On the other hand, she could mention the fact she can tell him and them apart, but she got the feeling that would make him unbearable to be around for a while. It would also just further sting Gemini’s pride if he talked about it with them. She’d have to bite the bullet and explain everything that had happened, she needed him to see Gemini’s side and hope it didn’t hurt his feelings too.

She nodded to herself, pleased with her plan of action. She straightened her shoulders to speak and paused, they were lighter than she’d expected. It shouldn’t have caught her so off guard that she wasn’t wearing a jacket, but she had definitely expected one. She’d never ask him to, but Loke had a habit of giving her his jacket, he used to force her to take it until she gave up. Nowadays, he gives it to her without any thought at all.

“I dunno, you won’t tell me what’s wrong, Gemini” She crossed her arms, unreasonably upset at their floundering. But come on! “What if I had needed Loke?”

Her hands went to her keys to send them away, their hands shot up, still as Loke, as they panicked.

“Ah! Wait, he’s busy with a meeting with the Celestial Spirit King we promise! He needs to update him from time to time, being the leader and all. Virgo has already been his substitute before and she was a bit busy so we kindly offered to help out”

“Out of the kindness of your hearts I’d imagine” She shook her head, but her hand moved from her keys, willing to hear them out. “And you didn’t tell me you weren’t Loke why?”

They shuffled before looking down, ashamed with themselves.

“It was going to be a joke, if you had talked about something private or important we would have told you we promise! But...we didn’t mean to make you think we were really upset with Loke..We are, but also kinda aren’t, it’s weird”

“Would you like to talk about it? I would like it if after all of today’s frustrations, I knew why you were so wound up”

They peaked up at her, fidgeting slightly.

“You’re not angry?”

Annoyed, yes. Angry, not really. She just needed a reason.

“No, come here” She patted her knees and they eagerly transformed, the twins jumping onto her lap instead of a lion spirit. A shame, she wouldn’t mind a feline in her lap, still they needed an ear. “So what’s eating you?”

“Well, it’s more what’s eating everybody, or maybe most of us? We’re not sure it’s become a confusing ball of emotions. But we’ve all sorta realised there’s a timer on how long we can all be like this. It was like that when you were a human but this whole thing has made it real clear. So the game we were playing became an excuse to visit, it was fun but we had a reason to be here. We understand that you and Leo are going through a ‘Honeymoon period’ but we want to spend time with you. All your spirits do. We feel awful that we’re jealous and we wish we weren’t but we also really love spending time with you”

“I love spending time with you, feel free to ask me to summon you whenever”

“But, in the past there's been months between summoning, can we really ask that? For others it was worse, so is it ok?”

It was worse for others?...Wait when was the last time she’d summoned each of her spirits, not including that picnic a while ago. She’d summoned her stronger spirits for fighting quite regularly, but the others… Other than Plue when had she last summoned a silver key? Lyra loved to perform for her and her friends and yet...Oh she’d been a bad spirit mage. She could suddenly understand their worry, she had promised herself to spend more time with them all, now was time to make good on that promise.

“Well why don’t we set up some visits? Plan for me to spend a day with one of you guys once every so often or something?”

They smiled up at her, their voices a little squeaky in their happiness.

“ _ REALLY?!” _

It was hard not to smile back, glad she was finally getting through to them, finally making them happy.

“Really”

“Ok we’ll tell the others and get it all planned, don’t worry about a thing ok Lucy?”

“Sure?”

“And we’ll make it all up to you too, all the trouble we’ve caused”

“Right we promise!”

“Wait how are you going to-”

But it was too late, in a glow of magic and giggles they were gone. She sat, silent for a moment, trying to process the tornado that had just smashed through her life, there was no understanding it, there was no understanding them. The next time they popped up it was going to be ‘interesting’ for sure. She groaned, sinking into her chair, should she be looking forward to it, or dreading it?

She didn’t have to wait long for her answer, though Gemini wasn’t known for patience or taking their time so she should have expected that. It was the next day that their plan came to fruition, well the next afternoon to be more exact.

She’d just gone through a rough day at work, Jason had her running up and down town fact checking every little thing for their newest article. She had so many facts and figures spinning around in her brain she would be dreaming of dancing numbers tonight. So she wasn’t mentally prepared to open her door to see two Lokes in her living room ready to greet her.

They beamed and waved at her, oblivious to her brain completely shutting down as she stood in the doorway. As frazzled and tired as she was she didn’t hear the door close behind her, or kind arms lead her to her couch. It wasn’t until the smell of a warm coffee restarted her mental process that she could actually process them, even then they were treading on thin ice.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking after you of course my love”

“You seem stressed, was it a hard day? Do you want me to help you  _ relax?” _

“Excuse me, but I’m the one who married her, don’t go flirting with my wife”

“Your wife? Please, she married me and we both know that. I am just showing her my love”

They glared at each other, matching annoyed smiles, both stood in front of her and both looked ready to punch the other. This was like some sort of weird fantasy she’d deny ever having. She pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t having some sort of pleasant dream, or nightmare. The responding sharp pain convinced her she was awake. So that meant either Loke had somehow split himself into two or-

“One of you is Gemini, the other is Loke, am I right?”

They both immediately lit up, temporarily forgetting the other to praise her.

“That’s right princess! How’d you guess?”

“Well it’s because she’s so smart of course!”

“Or because it’s so obvious…?”

She groaned, normally she wouldn’t mind a bit of praise, but two Loke’s blindly showering her with compliments was a bit much. She’d also really wanted to go straight to bed after work, her mind and body yelling to just go snuggle up in the covers.

“Anyway, we were wondering something”

“Can you guess who is who?”

Oh, so that’s their game, Gemini said they’d repay her for the trouble, this would make Loke exceptionally happy. He’d spin it as her loving him so much that she knew everything about him. There was some truth in that, but it was also because she understood Gemini extremely well too, as terrifying as that was. She probably shouldn’t, but she could really mess around with their plan right now. 

“You want me to guess right now?”

“Yes please!”

“I know you’ll get it right! If you need to ask any questions or need us to do anything go right ahead and ask”

It was a nice offer and one she was tempted to take. This wasn’t a normal situation so all the usual tells weren’t quite there. Still, she knew his sappy love filled gaze, no matter how neutral he was trying to be. He could never fully squash his love, it appeared on his face whether he knew it or not. A closer look at their smiles revealed one was slightly wider, eyes crinkled as pure love and joy shone through.The eyes were a window to the soul after all. It could really only be one of them.

“Gemini’s on the left, Loke’s on the right”

They were both equally shocked, she felt a little impressed that they were able to mirror Loke so faithfully, even with their power, it was impressive.

“Oh come on, how can you possibly know that?”

“I agree Lucy, what if I’m Gemini?”

So just correctly guessing wasn’t enough huh? She could play this game, Gemini were probably expecting something romantic but for all the mischief they’ve caused, she was willing to burst their bubble.

“You’re not, I know my own husband Loke. But do you want me to prove how well I know you both? Give you irrefutable evidence?”

“If you can!”

“Yeah, prove you’re right!” 

“Well, you’ve unintentionally given yourself quite the advantage Gemini, or maybe it was intentional. I wouldn’t be surprised considering how smart you are, you know everything about everyone you come in contact with and it’s clear that I wasn’t going to be able to best you forever. To make it more fair on me, do I get to ask a question?

“Of course Lucy”

“Ask as many as you’d like”

She smirked, confident in her plan. They weren’t her right now, there was no way they could read her thoughts and see her trap.

“I only need one to find out who you are! Are you ready? I’m going to ask an important question and it’s on your pride to get it right”

“We’re ready Lucy!”

“Alright then. What is…” She paused for dramatic effect, the tension slowly starting to rise. That’s what she wanted, make them wait just a little more, wait until their competitive nature boils over and they have to answer quickly and  _ correctly _ . “...my favourite colour?”

“Blue!”

“Brown! Specifically a warm hazel!”

They answered at the same time, before staring at the other. She took advantage of their confusion to bask in her victory.

“Gemini’s on the left, Loke’s on the right. Like I said, I know my husband, I know all his little quirks and habits, you’ll have to try harder next time Gemini”

Unfortunately they didn’t hear her, instead Gemini was looking astounded at Loke, who seemed for all the world like his reality had just fallen apart around him.

“You don’t know her favourite colour?”

“I-I...But she…”

“I know her favourite colour, I know everything about her, maybe I should be the one married to her hm?”

He finally snapped out of it, the apparent threat of taking away his happiness waking him from his shock. He glared daggers at Gemini, not impressed by their comment.

“That doesn’t count, that’s how your power works, you can read her mind, I only know what she tells me! Speaking of-” He turned on her, stomping over to wear she sat, rather calmly considering she had a lion looming darkly over her. “-You’re the one who said that having your lovers eye colour be your favourite was a romantic cliche!” 

Well he wasn’t wrong, she shrugged, a small half apology in her smile.

“But it’s a cliche for a reason! I was a little embarrassed about admitting it so I let you keep on thinking my favourite colour was still blue. I mean if this was a few months ago you’d be right, but nowadays I happen to enjoy staring into your brown eyes. They’re so expressive and kind, it’s so easy to get lost in them and feel safe and loved, so it became my favourite instead. Can you forgive me?”

He huffed, pouting at her and crossing his arms. They both pointedly ignored Gemini’s giggles in the background, for his pride if nothing else. She tilted her head up, eyes pleading and he quickly gave in, groaning a little.

“Fine, I forgive you, but I’m going to hold this over you for a long time, you’re not getting away with loving my beautiful eyes that easily”

“I can live with that, but still, you wanted me to prove I knew it was you, so really it was your own fault”

Before he could defend himself, Gemini piped up from the other side of the room.

“I thought you were going to have a romantic reason, not manipulate me...wow it’s weird to be the one falling for the trap not setting it”

“But my first reason was romantic” She stood up, reaching for Loke. He must have forgiven her, because he happily relaxed his cheek against her hand, allowing her to gently stroke his cheek with her thumb. He leaned into her touch as a dopey grin took over him. “Your smile was different, the way you look at me was different. Other things that usually change didn’t because someone else was in the room, but I could still work out who you were with that”

He murmured against her hand, answering in the positive, but was more focused on her gentle ministrations. The easiest way to distract this man was to give him some loving and he was proving it full force. He leaned forward and her arms moved around him, holding him close as his head relaxed on her shoulder. She started to rub his back when Gemini spoke up, clearly confused about something.

“But how? I copied him perfectly, or so I thought. How can he have a reaction I don’t know?”

“Well I suppose if you had become me it would have been more clear to you” She gently pushed against Loke, ignoring his whining as they separated. She walked back over to Gemini, sympathetic to their plight. “You don’t want me to tell you, but perhaps I can show you and you can work it out?”

“Show me? How?”

She took a quick peak back at her husband. His eyes were returning to normal, no longer glazed and wide, like a cats, so he was starting to focus back onto them again. His gaze locked onto her and he beamed.

“I am curious too, my love, after all Gemini’s power is usually perfect. Why is it your love for me that helps you see through their trickery?”

There it was, she had seen that one coming, but he was sorta right. She stretched her arms, getting the feeling back into them, before rubbing them, it really was getting colder lately but also-

“Tell me, who made me that coffee?”

“Loke, I was kinda surprised, one moment he was there the next-”

They were interrupted by Loke placing his jacket onto her shoulders, having taken it off. He kissed her cheek as she put her arms in.

“He appeared with a cup in his hands?”

“Yeah? What’s going on?”

“He’s kinda right when he spoke about love, but it’s more his own. When we started dating, despite my repeated attempts to convince him he didn’t have to, he kept doing things for me. He’d get me a coat if I was cold, a drink if I was tired or thirsty, my notes if I’d forgotten them, he’d even hold my hand without realising it if it was close enough. It’s become a habit he doesn’t even realise he’s doing at this point”

“...You mean it’s all subconscious?”

“Right, it doesn’t mean the act means any less, just that he does it on auto pilot now. He’s always tending to my needs, to the point I worry I’m taking advantage of him a little”

She felt another kiss on her cheek as his hands reached around her to hold her own.

“You don’t take advantage of me Lucy, I love making you happy, I love doing things for you. That should be obvious if I do it without even thinking, My heart moves me in those moments and I don’t mind following it”

“But-”

“No buts, I want to dote on you every moment I can and that’s it”

She sighed, giving in to his needy behaviour. She was just going to have to hope he one day got tired of doing things for her.

“Wait, so that’s- I didn’t know because he didn’t know?!”

“Right, I said if you’d turned into me you’d know. If you saw all his little actions through my eyes, you’d see how much gentler he is when around me, especially if it’s just the two of us.”

They thought it over before groaning, shaking their head and slumping in defeat.

“That...would be hard to copy, forcing what is supposed to be an unconscious action can make it seem real weird”

“Yeah, I think in the end that’s your weakness, that you have to rely on a person's knowledge to shape your disguise. You can never fully copy someone until you’ve seen them through their eyes and the eyes of those around them. No one has the full picture of themselves and many don’t even know they act differently around certain people, that they have these different personas. I think I could probably work you out if you pretended to be one of my spirits or a member of Fairytail, anyone else though you could fool me easily. But I can say with absolute certainty I will always work you out if you pretend to be Loke, I love him too much and know him too well to be fooled”

He hugged her tightly, face pressed tightly into her neck, she could feel the heat coming from his cheeks, a quick look confirmed he was blushing.

“I love you so much Lucy, you’re the same too you know? You’re different with me too and I adore that special attention”

She could probably guess that, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know about what embarrassing things she did while around him, she’d had enough mortification in her life. Besides, she wanted to be able to face him for the rest of eternity without tripping over her own feet.

Whether it was because they were tired or just plain bored, Gemini finally dropped their transformation, revealing the twins standing in front of her. 

“I get it now, I’ll mess around with someone else instead” That wasn’t the point she had been trying to make but they kept on talking. “Oh we sorted out a schedule! We wanted to tell you about that too!”

Oh? Now that was interesting. She felt Loke shift beside her, confusion marring his features, had he not been told about their plan? A small piece of paper sparked into existence in front of them, they easily plucked it out of the air to hand up to Lucy, shaking with excitement. She took it and gave the schedule a look over. It was a list of the Celestial spirits with dates attached to their names, it seemed to be in two week increments.

“Every two weeks? Also there are no set days?”

“Well this is just a basic outline right now, we didn’t have too much time. But the basic idea is that every two weeks you spend a day with whichever spirit’s turn it is. The idea is that it stops you from being overwhelmed from using too much magic and allows both you and the spirit to plan a day around your work.”

“Wow...that’s really well thought out”

“Capricorn helped”

She hummed, the twins didn’t give themselves enough credit, still, they did seem pleased with themselves. She gave the schedule another look, smiling to herself.

“I notice you’ve put yourself last?”

“Well, we’ve had a lot of time with you lately so it’s only fair”

“They have?”

“They’ve been pretending to be you to play pranks on me”

“They have?!”

He moved to stand beside her, looking aghast, but it really wasn't that big a deal. Well, they might need to sit down and talk about Gemini’s feelings, but that should really be private between them. Though she might be able to start it here.

“Loke’s not on this list either”

“Excuse me?!”

He couldn’t look more hurt if he’d tried, that he’d apparently been left out of something the other spirits had been planning. Or maybe it was more because he was being denied time with his wife. 

“Well he gets every other day with you, so excuse us if we think he didn’t need a special day with you. He gets Valentine’s day and your anniversary for that”

“Fair”

He stared between the both of them, gears turning in his brain as he noticed her reaction and the frustrated pouts showing up on Gemini’s face. 

“Yeah...fairs fair. It is a great thing to spend time with all your spirits and that should be encouraged. I suppose in all the joy I was feeling I forgot to keep up the whole family thing”

“You think?!”

“Ok, Ok I did, I’ll make more of an effort to make sure you all get equal time with Lucy. Heck we could even visit them in the stars from time to time, don’t you think?”

“Yeah we could, though I do think we owe them all a chat, I didn’t want anyone to think they couldn’t just ask to be summoned or that I was too busy to want their company”

“So maybe that first visit will be real soon then?”

“Probably”

They were caught off guard by a small cheer from the twins.

“We’ll tell everyone you’re going to visit right away!”

“Yeah we’ll gather everyone together for you!”

“W-wai-”

It was too late, they were gone, vanished in a poof of excitable pulse of magic. Beside he Loke scratched the back of his head, sheepish and unsure. She felt herself slip backwards onto her couch, face finding its way into her hands.

“Well, I guess that visit is going to be sooner than we thought...I shouldn’t have said anything in their presence”

“It’s going to be a big deal isn’t it?”

“If it’s them hosting it? Yes”

She groaned and fully leaned back against her cushions, she’d just wanted to sleep, just let her sleep in her warm bed.

But no, instead she fell asleep at a Celestial table in front of all her Celestial friends in another world and had to be brought back to Earthland by her husband.

Just kill her now.


	5. Summoning a dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy takes a week off to work out something that's been nagging her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one got harder to write the more I tried. I enjoyed the idea of Loke helping Lucy learn to summon a dress, but my brain refused motivation towards it. So i apologise if this chapters off.

She’d felt it rising up within her for some time now, a familiar power she never thought she’d be able to bring out fully on her own. Every spare day she trained she felt it inching closer and closer, to the point it was practically dancing under her skin, itching to break free. It was a power that had been temporarily granted to her in a moment of painful sacrifice, where the love her oldest friend had for her saved and protected her. Their love had granted her new strength, something that had drained from her when it was no longer needed. But now she could feel the power returning, curling inside her, she just needed a catalyst, a way to figure out how to set it free. It was driving her crazy, a puzzle that needed to be solved and she’d never let something like this stump her before.

It was this determination to figure out that amazing power that Aquarius had granted her that led to her asking for a much deserved week off. She was going to focus her training specifically on making that magical dress appear again and nothing was going to stop her. Going on what she knew, it took a strong bond between spirit and human to make the dress appear, which made sense. It was a strong bond with their spirits that increased a mage’s power, therefore the simple conclusion was that a powerful enough bond would allow the mage to manipulate the spirit’s magic, forming the dress.

Now she had a strong bond with all her spirits, she loved them all like a second family, but it was hard to deny her strongest bond was with her husband. The love they had shattered the barrier between human and spirit, as he’d so poetically put it. So if she wanted to figure out the dress in the most efficient way possible, it only made sense to train with her husband. She was not taking advantage of the moment to spend a huge amount of time with him, that was ridiculous, there was no way she wanted to be distracted by his powerful body in movement, nope, not at all.

Besides she wanted to do something by herself for a change, she wanted to be able to use her magic without her spirits having to constantly hold her hand. The star dress was starting to feel like Urano Metria and having to rely on Gemini’s help to use it. She’d needed help to form it for her own wedding for stars sake! She got the feeling Loke had subconsciously helped in the process alongside Virgo and Gemini, his magic helping her in her every need, even if he was unaware of it.

It was with much deliberation that she set out to a park that early morning, ready and willing to get this sorted out. She’d come at an early time, so she was alone for the most part, a perfect opportunity. Once she found herself a peaceful corner, she reached down into her pouch for her keys. She pulled out Loke’s and spoke to it, knowing he could hear her in the other world.

“I want to do some training today Loke, so do you mind coming in your spirit form? I’m going to need your help to work this out”

His key shone quickly in response, showing that the eager lion had indeed heard her and was answering in the positive. Nodding to herself, she held the key out and allowed her magic to surround her.

“I open the gate of the lion, Loke!”

She was halfway through the summoning spell when the gold shine of the Celestial world appeared in front of her, the last syllable of his name had barely left her lips when he showed up along with it.

Definitely eager.

“Good morning my lovely queen, your loyal knight is here to help. It is a shame that we are using your week off to train though, I can think of more pleasurable exploits that we can be doing”

She shook her head and sighed, far too used to his antics by now.

“Maybe next time my lion. For now though, I need your help in figuring out how to summon a Star dress all on my own. Until now I’ve had to rely on other spirits powers, but I want to be able to do this, it can only be a help in a battle after all”

His confusion was palpable, tilting his head and crossing his arms as he looked at her.

“While I understand your situation, wouldn’t Capricorn be a better choice? I love being with you, I’d spend every moment if I could, but even I can admit he’s a much better tutor than I am and may be more suited to your needs”

She huffed, a little annoyed he was forcing her to admit her selfish, and a little embarrassing, motives.

“I don’t think so. It would seem a strong bond is needed to form the dress. While I do have a strong bond with Capricorn and his ability to patiently mentor me would be useful, no one can deny my strongest bond is with you and I think i’ll be able to summon a dress much faster this way”

His chest puffed out and he stood up straighter as her words cheered him up and filled him with pride, he adored her affirmations of love. She looked away from his growing smile, feeling her cheeks redden at the words that next came out of her mouth.

“Besides I...I want the first dress I make on my own to be yours”

If she thought he’d been happy before, that was nothing compared to the noticeable excitable energy he was exuding now. He took a deep breath to calm himself, though when he opened his eyes to look at her he couldn’t keep down his beaming grin.

“Of course, how silly of me my love, to not notice your feelings. Let’s get started, though how should we begin? I’ll be honest and say I’ve never been asked this before, so I have no clue where to start”

She thought it over, he’d mentioned how good Capricorn would be at tutoring her, so she tried to think of his techniques. His way of gaining power was all about meditating then storing up and using your power, exerting it in a harmless way. It had really tested her stamina, perhaps that was the best way to start?

“Maybe we start with meditation? If I can find this power deep inside me, then it’ll be easier to use in a fight. So how about we do that for an hour or two then spar? I’m really playing it by ear here but I think those will help me form a star dress”

The gears turned in his head as he thought her plan over, before finally shrugging, uncertainty showing up on his face.

“Maybe? Seems a good a place as any to start”

Way to set my mind at ease there Loke.

Still, she found herself a suitable grassy patch and sat down, crossing her legs and closing her eyes. She could hear him sit by her, presumably choosing to calm down and meditate with her. She tried to remember Capricorn’s points as she took in slow, deep breaths. He’d once taught her how to raise her magic level, so perhaps it could be changed slightly to raise a certain type of magic? Or maybe it wouldn’t work and she’d look a fool, whichever it was she needed to stop thinking so much or she’d never be able to focus on the power inside her. She struggled to empty her mind, doing her best to copy the breathing exercises he’d taught her. Suddenly she felt Loke’s magic swirl around her, he’d managed to start raising his magic before her and it danced in the air around them both. She felt like she was breathing it in, that it was everywhere. But instead of panicking her, it relaxed her, calmed her, if his magic was keeping her safe, she could easily slip into peace.

Encouraged by his presence, she finally quietened her own mind, feeling down deep inside her. She pulled out her magic, allowing it to flow out and mingle with his own. She shouldn’t have been even a bit surprised that there were no sparks, no clash of opposing forces, rather her magic was accepted by his own, allowing the space around them to fill up with their combined power. She pushed herself, using more energy to make that power stronger, struggling to increase her own strength and bring herself closer to her goal.

She was surprised that his power rose to meet her, keeping in step with her and following her lead, allowing the further merging of their magic, of their power. As she was pushing her own magic out, she felt his enter her body, shooting through her body, her heart and soul. It was a strange but delightful feeling. She happily encouraged it, allowing more and more of her magic to flow into the air around her, pushing herself further. He once more did his best to match her, completely fusing their magic and something started to shiver up her spine and tremble through her very soul. There were ghosts of thoughts, of whispers just out of hearing, but that wasn’t what captured her full attention. Her mind filled with the image of his star dress, of being strengthened and protected by Regulus. A bolt of energy shot through her and she felt a sudden need to move, to do something. She startled him when she stood up, the magic flowing dissipating away in his surprise. She wobbled a little on shaky legs, how long had she been sat down? It had felt like seconds but was probably much longer than that. She waited for the feeling to return to them before answering his questioning glance.

“Let’s spar Loke, I feel so close to your magic, to the star dress, I just need a spark to light it. Some motivation to get it to come out”

He sighed before slowly standing up.

“That had been an interesting experience Lucy. We are magical beings you and I, to be so close as to share ourselves like that is something special. I wouldn’t mind trying that more often, to see what happens if we fully share ourselves. That would be so fascinating and I bet it feel so amazing to be so close to you, to merge our magic fully”

Of course he’d take this moment to wax poetic, but it was something to think about. If they both focused on manipulating themselves and their magic that way, what would the outcome be? Still, it wasn’t what she was trying to focus on right now, despite how intriguing it was.

“Maybe sometime in the future Loke, but I can't be distracted right now, I need to focus on creating a Star dress”

“Right...maybe next time. Ok, I’m ready to start. I’m not going to go easy on you, you know?”

“I wouldn’t want you to”

They grinned at each other as they moved a few steps apart, facing each other as they moved into their starting poses. She decided against her whip, deciding that if Regulus boosted her hand to hand combat, then that was the best thing to use to ask it to help her.

“Ready, my lioness?”

“Bring it kitty cat”

He almost paused at the nickname, amused by the jibe, but managed to shake it off to charge at her. Regulus glowed on his fists, increasing his strength, as he lunged forward. She sidestepped out of the way, he’d been kinda slow with that one, but had fallen into his trap as he swung around to aim a high kick at her. She quickly brought her arm up, just managing to block the attack. Pain shot up her arm as Regulus struck her, it’s light feeling like it was burning her skin. Yet at the same time her own magic surged up, almost desperate to respond in kind. She could practically feel the dress on her skin, yet it didn’t form. She frowned as she pushed outward, shoving his right arm back, disappointed that she wasn’t able to immediately call on it, but she wasn’t about to give up. Her determination shone through as she pushed him away, readying her fist for a counter attack of her own. She stepped forward, following through with a left swing that he had to use his weaker arm to block. As her fist made contact with his arm, power once more shot through her, edging closer and encouraging her. He flinched slightly as he took the brunt of her attack before jumping back to create space between them, so her follow up kick missed and so he could plan his next attack. Basic tricks no longer worked on her and he felt ever prouder of her progress in fighting techniques, while she felt proud she could actually get close to him. He looked her over, mentally working out his next move, before sidestepping and coming in for a longer range attack, keeping his distance with quick jumps and fierce kicks. Frustrated that she had chosen against her whip and he’d figured that out, she could do nothing but dodge as she worked out how to defend against the agile way he sped around her, appearing behind her too easily and far too often for her liking.

It was right there, in every dodge she made, in every counterattack, every punch and kick. But… she couldn’t summon it forth, even after an hour of training and sparring, she hadn’t been able to use it. She collapsed into the grass, exhausted with her fight with Loke, the spirit was a champion in hand to hand combat for a very good reason. She didn’t have it in her to continue today, despite the fizzle of magic around her. Without regular fighting for her life, jobs she’d lost a little stamina. She'd have to put aside more time for training, somewhere in the mess that was becoming her daily schedule.

He plopped down next to her, breathing hard as he tried to regain some energy. She was happy to have given him a good fight at least

“Next time Lucy, we’ll get it next time”

Right, tomorrow was a new day, she’d pin this down eventually.

The week passed by incredibly quickly for her, the seconds seemed to just speed by. The magic she sought was so tantalisingly close, but no matter what she did she couldn’t seem to get it to work. Even as the week was slowly coming to its end, she still hadn’t made much in the way of progress, except for being able to constantly feel it there inside her, much to her increased anger. Well, she supposed her and Loke’s magic had become incredibly compatible in that time, to the point she could practically feel it calling for her, but it seemed there was something missing, a piece of the puzzle she wasn’t seeing, adding to her exasperation. Her mind was becoming a dark cloud of self deprecation, she hated it, but she hated the fact she couldn’t get this right more.

After another failed training attempt she laid down onto the grass, choosing to wallow in her self pity. She groaned, depressed that she was being such a failure. Loke was right here doing his best to help her, despite the fact it drained him to do so, yet she had nothing to show for their efforts. Her irritation was reaching dangerous levels, she could feel the start of a stress migraine. She heard him sit down beside her, probably thinking over what to say, though she wasn’t sure what help that would do. What could he possibly say to someone who was wasting so much-

“I’d ask if you’re alright, but I can see you stressing out”

“Of course I’m stressed out, I keep calling you here with nothing to show for it. I’m wasting your time and energy”

She heard a soft snort, motivation enough to finally look up at him. To her surprise he was looking ahead, doing his best to be respectful of her.

“You know I believe no time with you to be a waste, even if it’s just training and not something more fun. No, it’s more than that”

Silence covered them for a moment, strangely peaceful despite how wound up she was, before she finally replied.

“You know me too well...I just...I just want to be able to do this on my own, to be able to use my own power to achieve something. It’s starting to stress me out though...what if all I can do is rely on others? What if I’m not strong enough to fight on my own?”

“Lucy… you’re incredibly powerful all on your own. The magic stored in you allows you to summon multiple spirits, close gates without a key and use the strongest celestial spirit mage attack spells possible. You’re getting so much better with your whip too and figuring out plans of attack on the fly. You’re growing day by day, but I fear you compare yourself to the others, which is a little unfair. I mean Natsu was literally raised by a dragon then a guild made for fighting, you weren’t allowed to learn to fight until you left home and you weren’t taught by anyone but yourself. It’s just not a fair comparison to make. You may slip up more than them, but near perfection comes with time and experience, and you haven’t had that yet. Not to the same extent that they have anyway”

“Aren’t those just excuses though? When I see what they’re able to accomplish, it feels sometimes like I’m being left behind…”

“Really? Because there are times when I think you’ve raced ahead. It wasn’t Natsu who defeated Bickslow after he’d spent the morning as a statue, I imagine you had quite stiff limbs...though I would have happily helped you loosen up”

She huffed, ignoring his shameless flirt to try to tackle the direction she knew he was trying to take this conversation.

“That was you too-”

“You beat him teamed up with Cana too you know, even if he did claim they were going easier on you. But fine, it wasn’t Gray who used Urano Metria seconds after he’d just learned it existed, even after draining his magic to low levels by previously summoning powerful spirits one after the other”

“Hibiki helped with-”

“It wasn’t Erza who travelled to the past to stop the terrible fate she’d seen, despite how much it’d hurt to leave her comrades behind and it wasn’t her who closed the eclipse gate, preventing the dragons from swarming and bringing that future to pass.”

“Again, I had help, from Yukino and all of you-”

“Fine, if you won’t acknowledge your Earthland feats, at least accept your Celestial ones! Was it Wendy who healed my soul? Who saved me? No! You’re the one who stood up to the Celestial Spirit King for me. If you didn’t exist, neither would I, both of which would cause major knock on effects. You saved Aries from her awful string of nasty, abusive owners. You touched Gemini’s heart and convinced her of your love. A prideful spirit on the opposing side felt love for you Lucy, that’s hard to accomplish. By the stars, the fact you trusted so deeply in me allowed Capricorn to be saved from his seventeen years long possession, my power wouldn’t have strong enough on it’s own”

How was he able to twist her thoughts into a more positive spin? She was about to thank him for the support when she realised he was still going, in full ‘defend Lucy’ rant mode now.

“Even in all those other cases...We wouldn’t have been able to appear if you weren’t so strong, we rely on your power too you know? Though...even if somehow this escapes you, which I doubt it will, then you know we will still care for you right? You’re no failure if you can't hurl around a flaming whirlwind or level a city or whatever Fairytail finds impressive, their standards are pretty skewered anyway. You’re perfectly strong as you are and I love you regardless, we all do”

He looked down at her then, his expression so kind and understanding she had to turn away. She also didn’t want him to catch her growing smile, how could he so easily ease her worries and frustrations? It was annoying just thinking about it.

“Damn you...Damn you and your ability to know what to say. How dare you cheer me up!”

She could feel him lurch slightly forward as he did his best to keep in the laugh that had undoubtedly been pulled forward. Instead all that escaped him was a small chuckle as he managed to regain his composure.

“You’re right, how dare I make one of my closest friends smile when they’re feeling down, it’s a horrendous crime to have supported them like that. In fact, I do believe I need to be punished. Don’t you think so Lucy?”

She didn’t need to see him to picture the little eyebrow waggle and smirk he no doubt had plastered on his face, but she turned back to face him anyway. As predicted, a mischievous gleam was being directed at her, suddenly all playful and teasing, probably to further help her. Well, she couldn’t have that. She sat up, feeling very playful herself.

“Well then, I guess I’ll have to send you back to the spirit world. That way when I summon the Leo star dress you don’t get to see it. In fact, you should be the last to see it, that’s an appropriate punishment for your crimes”

His aghast look almost ruined her serious facade, but she managed to keep it up, holding in her laughter even as he gaped at her.

“Excuse me?” His high pitch ruined her, persuading some giggles out of her. “I think you’re being highly unfair. Where do I submit a complaint about your tyrannical rule?”

“You don’t! I rule with an iron fist! Everyone fears the ice cold reign of Lucy Lionheartfilia!”

A raised eyebrow in disbelief, before he broke off into amused laughter, encouraging her to break into giggles.

“One, it’s super cute you used our surname to pretend to be evil. Two, I’m glad you said when, not if”

“Well...You’re right. I will get this and I will rock it, sorry for getting mopey on you there for a second”

He waved a dismissive hand, already forgotten in his mind.

“Don’t worry about it, I can understand your annoyance and pain, of feeling that something you desperately need being just out of your reach, or that it’s just going to slip through your fingers when you do get it. But you’ll get there, you’ll hold on tight and never let it go.” He pointedly looked her in the eye, keeping contact with her. “That’s what I did after all”

She felt the blush creeping onto her cheeks, how was it so easy for him to affect her?

“You take any excuse to be corny don’t you?”

“You love it, just like I love you”

“Right, I guess I love it...and you”

“You guess? You shouldn’t marry on a guess Lucy, it’s an important life changing decision”

“...Oh fine, I love you too you big softie”

He grinned at her, her only warning before pulling her into a large hug. He cuddled her close before nuzzling her gently. She allowed herself to sink into his arms, to let the last of her annoyance drift away and disappear. It was hard to be upset at the world when safe in her husband’s arms. If she could just turn away from the world and stay here forever with him, she would. Though she would only ever admit that while in the middle of such bliss and never to him. But she got the sinking feeling he already knew. It would explain why he always reached for her in times of trouble, his or hers, his need to comfort or be comforted always had them finding sanctuary in each other.

As they were sitting there, existing together, something disturbed her. Something in the air fizzled, curling around her as power rose up in her veins. That same familiar out of reach power, it bubbled under her skin. As she had thought about the two of them, she’d felt strangely closer to it then before, why was that? Her mind immediately switched back to this puzzle, dedicated to figuring it out.

She thought back to when Aquarius had sacrificed her key to save her, when the Celestial King had granted her powers in honour of that. It had been due to their powerful friendship, their love, that it had even happened, so then…

All this training and personal growth had brought this magic to her fingertips, waiting for her, for a catalyst to set it off, so just maybe that is…

“Lucy? Are you alright?”

“Huh?” She looked up to catch his concerned gaze, she had been quiet for a while, he was probably worried she was spiralling again, well time to put a stop to that. “I’m fine, just thinking things over. Do you mind having another spar with me? I think i’m close to getting it”

“Are you sure? You’re tired out from a week of training. I don’t want you to push yourself, I know what you’re like. You’ll push yourself to near death if left unchecked”

“I promise I’ll be fine, please Loke”

She did her best kicked puppy dog face, holding his gaze until he sighed and turned away.

“Fine, but if it looks like you’re in trouble I’m calling it off”

“That’s fine with me, let’s do this”

He was much less enthusiastic than her as he slowly let her go, allowing her to stand. He looked almost pained and she hated being the cause of that expression, of that worry. She just needed to prove to him that she was ok, that she could handle this. He watched her carefully as he moved to get into position, looking for the slightest hint that she was worse off then she was making out to be. They stood opposite each other and the moment Regulus started to dance on his fingertips, covering his hands in a bright glow, something sparked within her. Even as he moved to attack her, the world seemed to slow down as something had finally clicked into place. The world finally made sense. She jumped back before focusing completely on her memories. All the small and big things her spirits had done for her. From parties to saving her life to making her smile. She remembered how she’d found them, from just stumbling across their key to fighting for their freedoms. Flashes of all her spirits passed through her mind, how happy they were to be hers, how much they cared for her. Her thoughts then narrowed down to Loke, the man who’d loved her so much he promised her an eternity. All the small gestures to show he cared, to the big moments where he showed up just in the nick of time to protect her. Her heart surged with love for her family, for him, the missing puzzle piece.

Strengthened by the bonds she could feel pouring from her keys, she quickly pulled out his as she felt herself shout out.

“Star dress, Leo form!”

Finally, the dam broke and magic swirled around her. It was a new and strange feeling, now that she could feel it properly, to have his power rest on her skin instead of in the air near her. To feel it coat her with a promise of love and protection. She felt her own power rise to meet it, mixing with his own to change her clothes to a familiar and comfortable black dress. A ball dress that matched his black suit, really they should go to a ball together like this, it felt a waste to not.

That thought was moved aside and pinned for a later date as jubilation flowed freely through her, It set her laughing and spinning as she showed off and took in the dress. She’d done it! She’d actually done it! Despite the fatigue she should be feeling from a week's worth of training she felt like she could climb a mountain, jump high enough to reach the stars. She stopped to beam proudly at him, standing straight to show off a little to him. Well maybe a lot, but she wanted him to praise her.

“Well? What do you think?”

For a moment, he didn’t say a word. He stared openly at her as he looked her up and down, awe easily apparent on his features. He slowly smiled as it all sunk into his muddled mind, before it turned into a matching grin as excitement for her got his body moving again. He ran to her, arms open and inviting. She happily returned the gesture in kind, opening up her arms for him, but she might have let out a small, undignified, squeal as he promptly picked her up and spun her around in his joy. The world flew by as he laughed and turned, before coming to a stop and holding her close to his chest, her feet touching the Earth again as he kissed as much of her head as he could reach. A violent wave of joy and overbearing affection that almost made her heart explode as his kisses were interrupted with intermittent compliments and praises. She wasn’t even sure he was fully aware of what he was saying but knew it was how he felt. When fueled by love he became unabashedly honest.

“You’re so beautiful, so stunning, look so amazing. You are so amazing, so perfect, so-”

She could feel herself flaring up, embarrassed, yet incredibly touched, by how over the top he was being. He was caught up in all of their emotions, the only way to stop him would be to shut down his brain and cause a reset. Thankfully, she knew how to do just that. She managed to push a little back, so she was a bit away from his chest. He resisted against her, an ironclad grip that didn’t really want to let go of her, but she wasn’t going anywhere. All she wanted was to change their position slightly, so she was able to hold his cheeks and pull him down into a kiss.

She pushed all her thankfulness for his support and her own inner celebrations into that kiss. Love and happiness caused it to be fierce as she pressed against his lips. He was frozen for a second, caught mid gushing as he was, but quickly responded in kind, arms pulling her back in so he could fully kiss her. She felt a different kind of heat shoot through her as they basically made out in the park, as their lips came together again and again, in what stopped being an effort to melt his brain and more an effort to kiss the life out of him. Her grip tightened on him, holding her steady as her plan to leave him melted entered her fog filled mind.

They finally pulled back, needing to breathe and matching heat on their cheeks. Seeing him look so flustered left her feeling incredibly victorious...and other things she really didn’t want to admit. He seemed to spot her demeanour, because he caught his breath and smirked, a killer combination with those sin filled eyes, as he suddenly spoke up.

“... So smart, innovative, awesome in every single way-”

“Loke!”

He had the sheer nerve to laugh at her, as her mortification from earlier came back full force, drowning out everything else.

“Oh come on, can you blame me? Look at you!” His hands moved to her shoulders to shake them in his excitement. “Look at You! You did it! You’re amazing! I knew you’d figure it out! So what did you need to do?”

She tapped his hands, encouraging him to finally let her go, though he did not stray far.

“Well I was strong enough physically and magically, the training helped keep that up. My bond was strong enough too,I just forgot to focus on the One magic”

“The One magic? Why would that- Oh! Capricorn told me about your theory that it’s love. I completely agree by the way. After all, our love was able to break the boundaries between human and spirit! So of course it powers everything.”

“Right! I needed to focus on the love between myself and the chosen spirit. I needed to remind myself of everything we’ve done together, to feel that love. I believe that because that feeling of love was strong enough, it became the catalyst that allowed me to form the dress”

“So, if I’m understanding this correctly, you think it’s our shared bond, that feeling of a family that both you and your spirits have, that allows you to form that dress? It’d make sense. There were many owners who couldn’t do this who were kind enough, but still thought of us as tools or weapons at the end of the day. Your theory suggests that owners who distance themselves from their spirits, who create a wall between them, can never use their magic. So far, I do think that rings true, perhaps you’re on to something”

“Perhaps, or maybe I’m just stupidly lucky or the stars took pity on me. Regardless, this magic is mine now, I need a tutor to learn how to use it though, can you-”

“Yes! I will absolutely help you to learn to use Regulus. In fact let’s begin right now.” He quickly moved to her side, light already shining brightly on his fists. “Ok, first focus on where you want your power to go. Direct and move it at will. For this exercise, try moving Regulus into your hands. Oh it’s so awesome to be able to say that”

While he not so subtly went back to Happyland and Adore Lucy town, she decided to actually follow his advice. She took a deep breath and did her best to direct her magic to her hands. She was pleasantly surprised to find it moved without resistance, swirling and building up in her hands until they started to glow like his did.

“Hey...how come that was so much easier?”

“Because you’re so talented? And I doubt any part of me would deny you, my stars included. Anyway, next thing to try is a jab, see how you move with this new ability, feel it move with you”

He stepped back to give her the space needed. He knew how much her hits hurt without her strength getting boosted, never mind now that Leo’s stars mingled with her very being. He really didn’t want to be accidentally blasted across the park.

She rolled her shoulders before bringing her arms up, curling her hands into fists and jabbing forward with her right hand. She was stunned by the energy that crackled in the air around her fist, the way the sheer force of her punch seemed harder, thanks to the electricity and heat that seemed to be dancing in the veins of her arm. It was a unique feeling, one that she connected to borrowing a stars power. The universe had been a part of her for a while now, but at that moment it felt the most real. Perhaps that was her Celestial magic, to be compatible with all the stars, to be able to use everything that the universe could give her. In that sense she was able to be close to all constellations, all spirits, it felt good, it felt right. Joining in her inner joy Loke hugged her around her waist from behind, nuzzling into her neck.

“”Yes! Just like that! Awesome job Lucy!”

All she’d done was punch the air, he was such an overly affectionate idiot. It was cute the way he wanted to continuously support her through all her endeavours, even if it was a bit overwhelming sometimes.

“You’re going to be like this the entire time aren’t you?”

“Probably, but I can feel my stars protecting you Lucy. It’s an actual physical thing, like I’m here but I’m also with you. Now even when I can't be there a part of me will be by your side. It’s so comforting in a way I can't describe. To know I will always keep you safe, no matter what”

“You know no matter what I’ll be there for you too right?”

“Always Lucy, I know you’ll never abandon me. Now let’s keep going, we’ve a lot to go through in one day”

“Of course, teach me your ways master”

He shuddered before kissing her cheek, grip becoming increasingly tighter around her.

“Don’t call me that unless you want a different type of exercise”

She snorted, ignoring his small replying growl as she giggled.

“Right, sorry Mr horny lion. We’ll have that kind of fun later”

He hummed his approval while viciously tickling her sides. She thrashed widely in his arms as he grinned mercilessly,punishing her for her teasing. He let her go and strolled around her bent over form to stop in front of her, ready to teach her some of his moves.

“Ok, let’s clear our minds and focus”

Where did he get off saying that? She childishly pulled her tongue at him while she straightened up, expressing just what she thought of his behaviour, before getting back into position. Ready to put her vengeance on hold to learn, but he was going to be in real trouble tonight.

They had a lot to go through in that one afternoon, but after all the practice she felt confident she could at least use Leo’s magic reliably in a fight. She would need extra time to study the other dresses and their abilities, but this was the road to progress and she felt proud of herself. She had a viable goal and she was going to strive towards it, together with her spirits, but not before she asked Gemini to pull some form of prank on her husband.

It was only fair after all.


	6. Finding old friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Grand magic games is upon Lucy once again. She's planning to just do her job and write some articles on the event. But life never goes the way she plans does it?

She’d trained constantly since she first cracked the star dress. Talking to her spirits, reliving memories with them, training with them and one by one, learning to summon their dresses. It was nice to keep her promise to spend more time with them, even if it was just to get stronger together, though they did end up doing other things too. 

She was proud of her achievements and so were they. All her spirits, gold and silver, had basically become her own personal cheer squad, each supporting her in their own way. Though it couldn’t be argued against that Loke was the leader of that cheer squad, constantly praising her and her growth. She knew if she wasn’t careful her ego would get a bit too big, but she honestly felt like she was getting stronger every day. Jason must have noticed it too, since he put her on this important assignment with him, she’d been so excited when he told her about it yesterday.

_ It had been just as she was walking away from work, Loke had come to pick her up so they could drop off at a cafe together. Jason had come rushing out, yelling about how he’d forgotten to ask her something. _

_ “Lucy! The Grand Magic Games are coming up again.I’m going to be doing daily articles to keep everyone up on the coolness of the events! Would you like to assist me and help write them up?” _

_ She’d been so excited, the idea of covering such a big event thrilled her, especially since it would be her first time doing such an important job. She had felt Loke buzzing beside her, holding himself back from yelling his congratulations right there and then. _

_ “Of course! I’d love to!” _

_ “Cool! Meet me in front of Domus Flau bright and early on the day! We'll have to be there first to get good seats!” _

_ “I will! Thank you for choosing me for this, I won’t let you down!” _

_ He’d flashed her a quick thumbs up, confident in them both. _

_ “I know you won’t! Who’d have thought our intern who started as an underwear model would raise the ranks so quickly? It’s so cool Lucy, you’ll be a top journalist in no time!” _

_ The praise made her blush though she was pleased to be noticed for her writing, it had also improved she felt. Her book would definitely improve from all this practice and tutoring. Unfortunately, for once, it wasn’t the complement that had caught Loke’s attention. _

_ “Wait, wait a minute. She was a-” _

_ “Right! Who knew?” _

_ She’d laughed along with Jason, desperate to not let that topic of conversation continue, confirmed that she wanted to take the job, then dragged a stunned lion spirit away with her, praying to the stars he’d forget what he just heard. _

And so that led to where she was now, her bag on her bed as she went over everything inside. She wanted to be professional since she was working with her boss for once. She felt she had everything; her notepad, pencils, water, snacks for the day, tape recorder. It seemed like everything, Jason was bringing the camera. She hummed, her worried brain telling her to look and relook.

“Loke, do you think I’ve packed everything?”

She got no response and she groaned. She cast a quick glance at him, nose in an album, oblivious to the world. Unfortunately for her, the conversation had apparently continued and now he had the portfolio of all the pictures taken that day, even the ones that didn’t appear in the magazine. Which meant getting anything out of him right now was probably a lost cause, at least until she could get it off him. She walked over and tapped his forehead, catching his attention.

“Earth to Loke, I’m asking you a question”

“Huh? Oh, sorry Lucy” His eyes briefly skimmed over her stuff, weighing up her choices. So he had been paying attention then! “I think what you’ve chosen is fine, you’re not leaving town so it’s not like you need extra clothes or something”

“Yeah you’re probably right. I’m used to a big job meaning leaving Magnolia...This is relatively light packing compared to what I’m used to”

“That’s probably why it feels off to you. Your brain is trying to get you to pack for a large journey you’re not taking”

“You’re more than likely right, thanks Loke”

“No problem my love, anytime” He temporarily went back to the portfolio, before an idea seemed to strike him and he looked up eagerly at her. This could not end well. “Do you still have this Lucy? Or maybe in pink? As sexy as black looks, I bet you’d look lovely in a lighter colour. A cute sexy combo to absolutely destroy me”

Of course that was it, doesn’t this idiot know there were bigger problems to worry about? Also, a lighter colour? She didn’t want to know how much he’d thought about that, but it might be something worth remembering.

“No, I only had them on for this shoot, I don’t think I’d be too comfortable wearing them again. I went to intern as a writer and instead ended up in such an awkward situation, I don’t know how Mira does it with such confidence”

That got his attention. He softly closed the portfolio staring up at her in thought.

“I can get rid of this if it makes you uncomfortable. I can hunt down every copy of that issue and burn them all if you don’t want people to see you that way and I would do it gladly”

Why did he always have to go to such extremes? Was that even a normal response to this situation? Well getting rid of his copy was but…

“I don’t mind you having those photos, just you specifically. I mean it’s something to look at when I can't be with you and I know you want a ton of photos of me”

“I do want non sexual photos Lucy”

“Oh, I know. But I'm sure you want some more private ones too. I just don’t want to do that type of thing again, I think I’ve had enough of other people constantly seeing my body. It’s like a running gag in the comedy that is my life”

“A Comedy? And there's me thinking we were a Romance”

“...A Romcom?”

He tilted his head, weighing his options. Honestly the more she thought about it the more they seemed to fit. The amount of time they’d spent dancing around each other kept her up at night. The amount of times she’d looked into his eyes then convinced herself there was no way he felt the same. Stars, he used to run away from her when they’d first met, that was prime Romcom material!

“...That sounds fair. In true Romcom fashion then, how about I offer to do a private underwear shoot for you?”

He shot her a sultry wink, but it was unnecessary, she was already incredibly flustered at the mere images shooting through her brain. She really didn’t need to think of him in underwear, smirking confidently towards her, but there they were.

“...You don’t have to, wouldn’t that be embarrassing for you?”

“Nah I had a bunch of weird photoshoots when I was labelled ‘Most dateable’ by Sorcerer’s magazine. Besides if only you were going to see them I wouldn’t mind”

“Maybe one day then….after I finish this job! You distracted me!”

“That I did, but surely this is more interesting than thinking about a Games that doesn’t have any of the big guilds attending? I don’t know why the others decided not to come, maybe not facing Fairytail turned them away, but it’s gonna be a little boring”

“Well, now that there's no pressure to face that kind of infamy, maybe a diamond in the rough will show up”

“Perhaps, but come on, us two posing seductively in underwear is a more interesting thought”

“Sounds more like a porn magazine then a photo shoot”

He stared at her, a little surprised, but hey his humour was rubbing off on her. There was a beat before he started giggling and ‘scolding’ her for being so dirty. It really was so hard to worry about anything with him around. She looked up at a board on the wall, News articles, gossip, pictures, rumours on the different members of Fairytail scattered across it. Every drip of information she’d heard on them ended up on there, it was getting pretty big now. Who knew, perhaps someone would make an appearance, there were fond memories here too after all. She allowed Loke to slug an arm around her, eagerly babbling about a private photoshoot they could take together. She’d like to see even one of them again, she was certain he would too. Feeling energised at the possibility at a reunion she cuddled him close, cutting him off, before getting up to finish her preparations, it was going to be an interesting week.

Perhaps interesting had been the wrong word. She mused over the past week, the final event of the games was in sight and so far not much had actually surprised her. Not just that, but there hadn’t been so much as a peep from any member of Fairytail, it was disappointing to say the least. In the background she heard the two teams being announced, Dullahan Head and Scarmiglione, they’d fight to determine the winner of the Grand Magic Games, but she was already pretty certain of who the victor was going to be, she could feel the boredom creeping up on her.

“Cool! This is so cool! Get ready to write an interesting article Lucy!”

She wished she could share Jason’s enthusiasm, but the outcome was already set in motion. She’d fought people like this before, she understood their motivations and strength. It all seemed so-

“Lucy?”

“Ah sorry. Were you saying something?”

“The match is about to start”

She sighed, boredom coming back to her, she could be out there researching her friends, training her magic, or even spending quality time with her husband, but instead she had to watch this farce.

“It’s all an act”

“Well, I know Scarmiglione has had a rocky start but they could still-”

“That’s what I mean. Sure the other team is strong. But from what I’ve seen Scarmiglione is stronger. In fact they’re probably a lot stronger but just hiding it”

”What?”

“They’re probably doing it for the money”

“HUH?”

Jason’s excitement for a scoop had him practically bouncing where he stood, he eagerly watched the fight below to see what would happen. Just as she predicted, one team easily scored an overwhelming victory with all its members still standing.

“And Scarmiglione are the victors! Who could have foreseen this coming?!”

“My lovely wife did, we should have bet on it”

They should have, her rent would have appreciated it. Oh well, you live, you learn.

“With this surprise victory Scarmiglione’s value has skyrocketed! They’ll be rewarded for their hard efforts for sure”

And there it was, she was sure just had just heard the leader boasting about money. She knew it, they were just a greedy guild looking to get rich. How aggravating, a guild with such selfish motivations had no right to be Fiore’s finest.

“Coooool! It’s just as Lucy said!”

“Well yeah! She’s awesome and so smart, of course she worked out their plan!”

Loke’s insistence on being her bodyguard throughout the event meant he and Jason had been able to spend time together. He hadn’t really been needed, but it allowed them both to find things to bond over. To no one’s shock, how ‘cool’ she was seemed to be a hot topic between them. It caused her no problems that they got along so well, but it was more than a little embarrassing.

“Well it’ll make a cool article anyway- Huh? Whose that?”

A strange hooded figure was walking into the stadium. The black cloak hid any identifying features. The announcers seemed just as surprised as she is.

“What’s happening? A stranger has entered the ring”

“An Intruder?”

No sooner had she yelled out in her surprise, she felt it. The power in the air was overwhelming her, magic coiling around the stranger, waiting to be set off. Her and Loke shared a knowing look, he could sense the sheer level of their power too, this was serious.

“We need to evacuate everyone!”

“Huh?”

But her warning came too late. Scorching winds burst quickly outward from the cloaked intruder, rushing up to easily reach the stands.The oppressive heat was everywhere, fear and confusion was starting to rise, people whipped up into a frenzy by the display of sheer magical strength. She felt a surge of power beside her, as Loke started to borrow her magic, good she’d need his help to cool them off.

A ruckus in the arena distracted her from organising an evacuation plan for the innocent bystanders.

“Who the hell are you?!”

“I’m...a challenger!”

Without warning they punched forward, a large pillar of flames shot from their arm, engulfing Scarmiglione and overwhelming them. The flames grew and danced upward, accumulating into a fiery explosion. The guild members didn’t stand a chance. She held up her arms to try and shield herself from the backlash.

“We need to gather up any mages that can fight!”

The growing heat was more intense than anything she’d ever felt before. It burned at everything around her, even the air she breathed felt too hot, like it was scorching her lungs from the inside. Somehow it was even melting the stands, forcing people to flee lest they fall down into the arena. To her horror her clothes were starting to get the same treatment. Before she could move to shield herself a black suit jacket covered her. She stared up at Loke, now in spirit form, as he buttoned up the much too large jacket. She was actually thankful he was taller than her, it helped keep her modest.

“Thank you”

“It’s no problem. As much as I enjoy seeing your body Lucy, there’s a big difference between you undressing voluntarily and your clothes being forcefully taken off of you. I won’t allow you to be taken advantage of, especially by that strange creep. Besides, I’m trying to turn your life from a Romcom into a Romance, universe conspiring against you be damned”

She snorted at his dramatic declaration before straightening the jacket, it went just past her hip and she was incredibly grateful for that.

“I’m impressed this isn’t burning, especially since it’s black”

“You think any kind of earthly heat can destroy something created by the stars? It would take something much hotter than this to burn a star”

She nodded in response, looking down to see the stranger’s hood had come off in the ‘fight’. Her eyes widened as she stood in shock, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.

“Natsu?!”

Of course, who else could create such powerful flames? Relief and joy flooded her at finally seeing him again, at finally getting some notice that he was ok...even if he was destroying the stadium. Wait, why was he destroying the stadium and why was he even here? Confusion started to take over her glee when she heard a small voice behind her.

“Heya Lucy! How’ve you been? Oh and hi to you too Loke”

She turned to see a familiar bright blue Exceed, floating around all carefree, like everything wasn’t burning around him.

“Happy! What’s going on?”

He shrugged in response, he really had no right to act so blasé about this.

“Natsu said he just wanted to come and see the fight, but now everyone’s out of commission...”

The Exceed sighed as he stared down at the unconscious guild, then at Natsu, whose fists were still pouring out an energetic fire, desperate to leap out at something.

“Anyone’s fine! Come at me!”

“Someone stop him!”

The other guilds charged at an overly excited Natsu, who was egging them on and encouraging them to attack him. As the flames and heat continued to engulf everything, the stands half melted by that point, people were finally starting to flee. It was chaos at the exits as the bystanders all pushed and trampled each other as they rushed to escape.

“He’s overdoing it again, that Natsu”

“I think overdoing it is an understatement”

Happy didn’t pick up on Loke’s mumbled retort as the spirit kept gently edging her backwards. He was aware of her need to watch, but was ever wary of their shrinking platform. She was glad one of them was on top of things because right now all she could focus on was the fire dragon slayer below. That nostalgic feeling of watching joyfully fight, of seeing his fire dance around him. His excitement had always been catching, his positive nature had changed her own outlook on life, just a little. Memories flooded her of days spent laughing in the guild, journeying along winding roads together, facing jobs and quests as a team just for him to destroy everything and cost her a sizable chunk of her reward. But it had all been worth it back then for his company, his loyal friendship that never wavered under any pressure. It was worth the risks to stand by him now. 

He seemed to finally sense her staring, because he looked up. He was caught off guard in momentary surprise, before his toothy grin spread across his face, coaxing from her an answering smile of her own.

“Hey! It’s been a long time, Lucy!”

“How are you?”

Her reply was quiet in the pandemonium going on, but she knew he had heard her. Her emotions rose once more and she got a warm feeling in her chest. If he was here, then something was going to happen. Everything was going to be ok, Fairytail isn’t over just yet.

Predictably, the moment Natsu calmed down he was grabbed by the guards and dragged off to the castle. After a quick wardrobe change, Loke thankfully agreed to teleport her there and back, undergoing a wardrobe change of his own back into his guild member look, they agreed to go check on him. So here she was, waiting outside for news. He stood at her side waiting there with her, lost in thought. Agitated with worry over what was going to happen with Natsu and looking for a distraction, despite how dangerous of one he could be, she decided to probe his mind a bit.

“Jewel for your thoughts?”

His glazed eyes came back into focus as he turned his head towards her, pulled from his distracted haze.

“Hm? Oh, just daydreaming about you in a suit and tie. I didn’t get to appreciate you in mine properly so now i’m taking full advantage of this lull to give it the time it deserves”

Well then, she couldn’t say she’d been expecting that, though maybe she should have. She felt an eyebrow raise with her incredulous reaction, bemused by him.

“Is it really that good an image?”

“You looking completely badass in a full suit and pants combo? Sunglasses hiding your eyes and a dangerous smirk on your face as you cock your hip just so? Sign me all the way up”

She’d have to take his word on that one, he was constantly finding new ways to adore her and as cute as it was, she still wasn’t positive that she should encourage it.

“If you say so Loke...He caused a right mess didn’t he?”

“Natsu? Yeah he did. But I suppose that was to be expected, he was never going to resurface normally, that’s not his style.”

A smile broke out across her face at the mention of his mischievous nature. He’d really gotten them into some trouble in the past, perhaps this was karma.

“If he gets jailed I’m not paying his bail, he can think about what he’s done”

“Pft, me neither. Flame brain needs a wake up call”

They shared a cheeky grin, enjoying the light hearted teasing. They both knew deep down that they would absolutely go halves on his bail if it came down to that, he was too important a friend to just abandon, to just let slip away…

Old emotions she thought she’d swept under the rug threatened to choke her, a large unpleasant lump in her throat. It stung her eyes and heart, bringing her close to tears. She did her best to stand her ground against the past feelings of loneliness and abandonment, but was caught wavering.

“Are you alright?”

“He’s back, I should feel relieved right? S-so why...?”

“...A part of that will be relief. You never found any information on him did you? Not even the slightest rumour to confirm he was ok. To see him safe and sound is probably a little overwhelming”

“Y-yeah but…”

She felt an arm snake it’s way around her shoulders, encouraging her to lean into his chest.

“It’s ok to be angry at him too you know? He did just selfishly vanish, yell at him all day about it if you’d like”

“No I don’t think I will...but I should calm down, I don’t need Natsu teasing me for crying”

“If he does he’s going to get a left hook from me...He might just get one anyway for making us wait this long”

“You say that but…”

He tilted his head away from her, unwilling to let her see his face.

“...Yeah…”

“And don’t come back!”

She jumped away from him, startled by a guard’s loud yelling. The target of their harsh words didn’t seem to care, strolling up to them with no worries.

“Looks like you got acquitted Natsu, that’s great!”

Their smiling faces got bigger at the reminder that they had gotten off scot free. Though maybe it was more because they were happy to see her.

“Lucy! You came to see us! Why are you alone?”

“Why aren’t the others with you?”

She paused, sharing a sad glance with Loke. They both realised at the same time an obvious truth, she should have realised sooner.

“That’s right...you don’t know do you?”

“Know what?”

Their smiles faded away in their confusion and she froze up, unsure in facing the past. She felt a pat on her shoulder before Loke squeezed it gently for encouragement, a sign he was there.

“Let’s go somewhere out the way, you don’t want people snooping in on this”

  
  


“Fairytail broke up?!”

“Why?!”

She sighed as she looked down from where she sat on one of a collection of rocks, Natsu and Happy sat on their own rocks opposite, while Loke stood behind her, making sure no one tried to sneak in and listen in to their conversation.

“It happened the day after you guys left”

“But why did they break up?”

There was a pause as she thought over what to say. She could say anything, do her best to ease his nerves and say it was for the best but…

“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to wrap my head around it myself”

“Where can I find gramps?” His fist and teeth clenched in a righteous fury. “I’m going to beat him up! Better yet, I’m going to pluck out all his hair!”

“You should at least leave his mustache”

Here came the harder part, she knew how much he idolised the master and this was going to hurt him. She hated that she was causing him such misery.

“The master is missing”

“What about everyone else? Erza? Gray?” There was a flinch beside her and she almost stopped their conversation to hug Loke. Natsu hadn’t been the only one desperately asking about Gray. He’d been more subtle about it, sometimes simply glancing at her board for new information, but the worry was there. That ice mage was going to have to deal with a very upset lion. “What about the others?”

“Everyone just went their separate ways”

He growled under his breath, frustration and hurt rising inside him. She understood him and felt a deep sympathy for him. She'd been there and as she watched them go through the stages of grief, she wondered if this is what it had been like for her spirits. Stuck on the sidelines, cheering for you but unable to help until you let them. It wasn’t fun being on either side of it; she was quickly learning, she needed to thank them all again for supporting her.

“I can't believe this...Everyone was just ok with the guild splitting up?”

“I wonder...I’m not so sure they were”

She looked up to the sky as she spoke the conclusion she’d come to. There was no way they were happy with how things are, but everyone had to move forward to protect the hope that they’d come together again. If they’d all stayed together moping and hurting, no one would have grown or changed, she definitely wouldn’t be as strong as she was now. Sometimes, you just needed time apart. 

“Well how else could this have happened? Even if they were told to split up they could have all refused! Laxus could have easily been the next guild master-”

“Do you really have the right to say that Natsu?”

She didn’t mean her interruption to be so cold, but this was starting to drag up old emotions, ones she’d thought had died. All that betrayal she’d felt, first from him then the guild, all welled up inside her, threatening to snap at him.

“Huh?”

“After all, you never thought of the guild for a second did you? You didn’t discuss it with anyone before you went off on your big journey, no one knew where you were!”

“Err…”

She’d hurt and upset him, she could tell even if he didn’t show it. She took in a deep breath, doing her best to cool her fighting emotions. She understood his anger, she wanted to support him, but she also wanted to tear him down and yell at him for making her worry so much. For just disappearing and never showing up once. For making her panic into the dead of night that he was hurt in a ditch somewhere, or much worse. To be so irresponsible and uncaring then moan when others do the same, it was so...annoyingly childish.

But that wasn’t what was needed. When the time was right she could discuss all this with him, but right now, for the both of them, she needed to be caring and understanding.

“I’m sorry, You and Happy probably had a lot on your mind. I’m certain it was the same for everyone at the guild, Master too”

They shared a contemplative moment as what she’d said sank in. She’d had a long time to think about why everyone had just left, to see that old pain and betrayal on their faces had been...unpleasant, to put it mildly. But at least they seemed to understand, like how she’d come to understand-

“OW!”

She jumped as the somewhat peaceful moment was interrupted by two fists slamming down on Natsu and Happy’s heads.

“What was that for?!”

“Yeah, that hurt!”

“In all the chaos I’d forgotten about it. That was a warning. Don’t try to strip Lucy again, or there will be severe consequences”

“But I wasn’t even-”

“ _ Don’t _ !”

“...Ok”

Appeased by Natsu lowering his head meekly, he strode back over to stand at Lucy’s side.

“Good, please continue”

Well, now that he had effectively ruined the moment, she saw no point in continuing on. She sighed before standing up. 

“Let’s just go home”

Her tired mind and body were both thankful when she walked through her front door. Today had taken much more out of her then she’d thought. She was happy to see her friends, but it turned out extreme relief followed by talks of the past could severely drain you. She heard Loke close the door behind them and was pleased when she saw that the newcomers seemed impressed with her new home. 

“Whoa, this is your home Lucy?!”

“You’ve been living in Crocus this whole time?”

“Well, it’s close to my new workplace so…” She looked away from them, unable to finish that sentence. She hadn’t been able to bear the idea of staying in Magnolia with everyone gone. It would have seemed so empty and quiet. At least Natsu’s home would still be there for him though, she’d need to find her old landlord if she ever wanted to move back. She paused as she turned to the ragged looking pair, did they have somewhere to stay? Probably not. “You don’t have anywhere to stay do you? Feel free to spend the night here”

They were as overdramatic as her husband, suddenly on their knees and praising her.

“Thank you Lucy, praise Lucy!”

“Our Goddess Lucy!”

She heard a small snort behind her and caught Loke holding in his laughter in the corner of her eye. His hand covered his mouth as he desperately fought a losing battle. Well she couldn’t think about that, she had to be serious.

“You can stay here, but don’t you dare damage anything! I will not have my home wrecked by you two! And another thing, don’t go into my bedroom ok?”

It was an afterthought, but she really didn’t need those two walking in on her and Loke cuddling each other or kissing or something. It wouldn’t be great for anyone involved. Then there was all the private stuff in there that she didn’t want them to see. She was pulled out of her inner monologue by the sound of scratching. She was alarmed to see that Happy was already tearing into her wall.

“What did I just say you stupid cat?!”

That was it, Loke broke. He dissolved into laughter as he peeled Happy off of the wall. 

“Come on now, don’t destroy the home the princess is kindly allowing you to rest in.”

“But I’m doing what cats do! I’m going to become a strong lion like you!”

“I know you will my apprentice, but it’s best not to anger this lady, unless you don’t want to keep your tail”

That convinced him, he relaxed and allowed the spirit to carry him away from the wall. Despite his words, and attempt at a harsh expression, Loke was smiling with his eyes, she could see them lit up with happiness. She couldn’t fool her, he was over the moon to see them again. While he did his best to tame and calm down Happy, she decided to do something about the other beast in the room.

“Do you want a haircut? It seems a little unmanageable”

That was an understatement. It was more of a mane than Loke’s own head of hair.

“I guess I did let it get a little long huh? Sure!”

A little long? She sighed as she summoned forth Cancer.

“Need a cut Lucy?”

“Not me Cancer, could you change Natsu’s hair back into it’s normal style?”

“Leave it to me ebi”

With a few quick cuts that she could barely follow, Natsu’s hair was back into it’s old, familiar style. Cancer disappeared with a promise to return if she ever needed a style change, it was worth a thought.

She took in Natsu’s beaming figure, standing there with pride. It was finally sinking in that he was here, in her home, that he was safe. Seeing him just as she remembered, just like it was only yesterday she last saw him, really hit it home for her. He was back!

The rest of the night was a blur of activity, that was relatively peaceful. The only big exceptions were when Natsu asked if she wanted to join in his bath. She had to quickly decline while holding back a suddenly murderous lion. She was pretty sure the flame mage didn’t know how close he had gotten to being slashed by a lion’s claws. Thankfully the big kitten was easily placated with a warm drink and sofa cuddles. That and a patient ear while he ranted about how it hadn’t really even been that long and he’d already broken his promise.

Then there was the fact they’d talked through the evening, voices rising in shared joy, despite her multiple attempts to get them to use her indoor voices. Her neighbours were going to be so mad with her. Still, she hung on his every word, desperate to know everything they’d been up to the past year. She was so eager to hear his story that it wasn’t until she went to bed that she realised she hadn’t said anything about her adventures. Oh well, she figured there would be plenty of time to catch up in the morning. They didn’t have to rush anything after all. She went to bed dreaming of a quiet day together, the four of them enjoying each other's company once more.

Unfortunately for her plans, someone was laying restless in the night. Resting on her couch as he stared up at the ceiling, a small blue cat curled up on a pillow by his hand.

“Happy?”

The blue Exceed opened one tired eye to look up at him.

“Aye?”

“Is the guild really gone?”

He regretted speaking the question into existence, revealing how he felt deep down. The guild couldn’t be gone, all those memories, couldn’t really be over right?

“I don’t believe it is”

“There's only one thing to do”

He shot up as he spoke, determined and unable to sleep. How could he sleep when there was so much to do. He turned his gaze to Happy, who was getting up, seemed he understood too. His grim expression melted away into something more scheming. 

“Let’s draw on Lucy’s face!”

“I’ve got the pens ready!”

Nice one, he could always count on him to back him up. Despite the energy pouring into him he did his best to quietly make his way to Lucy’s room. The door opened slowly as he peeked in, revealing a sleeping Lucy, with Loke curled around her, spooning her from behind. 

“She’s asleep! She dared to fall asleep with us around!”

“Shhh, don’t wake them up, why’s Loke there?”

He pondered that before shrugging, it didn’t matter.

“Well we did take the couch, maybe that’s where he slept? Or maybe he knew we would do something like this and was trying to protect her. That idiot, her face is on the other side”

“Yeah! Let’s draw on him too!”

“Duh!”

They crept slowly over to her bed, pens at the ready, when something in the corner caught his eye. He turned in the darkness to see a map on the wall. The map was covered with bits of paper, string lines connecting them all. He stared in awe as all the information sank in, every news article, every photo, it was…

“Everyone’s locations. This is incredibly detailed too, information on sightings and the dates when they were seen”

As Happy continued to look over everything, he slowly turned back to his old guildmate sleeping on the bed.

“Lucy…”

She hadn’t given up, she believed everyone would come back together. But of course they would, they were a family, they just needed to be reminded. He nodded, certain now of what he needed to do, he would not let Lucy or his guild down, it was time to reunite Fairytail!

The sun shone in through the window, gently waking her up and starting her day. Well, maybe not gently, she could have done with a few more hours, but Loke wasn’t with her. Usually if one was awake they’d spend some peaceful company with the other, it was rare to see him not indulge in an early morning snuggle. She almost started to grumble when a wisp of a delicious smell caught her nose. She looked up to see he’d left the door open, no doubt hoping she’d be woken up by this. Her body started to wake up as she sat up, trying to tell what was going on. She could hear activity in her kitchen, was he cooking her breakfast? That was so sweet. She could forgive him for not staying with her, just this once. She stretched as she got up, going through her morning routine before stepping out of her room and closing the door behind her.

She made her way into the kitchen, drawn by the smell of cooking and trying to wipe away the last remaining remnants of sleep from her eyes. She was met with the sight of Loke by the oven, apparently frying something. Her manners and common sense told her not to startle him, she was not awake enough to get burned right now, so she quietly spoke up.

“Mornin Loke, is that breakfast?”

He turned to face her and she was treated to the delightful image of him in a frilly white apron. Now if only it didn’t have ‘Kiss the chef’ on it, it’d be perfect otherwise.

“Why yes it is my dear, just done too. A perfect breakfast to start another perfect morning!”

Her brain was chugging along enough to be amused by his words, a small smile threatening to appear on her lips. She vaguely acknowledged Natsu and Happy at her kitchen table, but was too engrossed in early morning flirting to notice they were starting to stare, in combined interest and confusion. 

“ _ Another _ perfect morning?”

“Why of course” He tipped some fried eggs from the pan onto a plate on the counter beside him. “Every morning is perfect when I’m married to you”

“Sap”

“You love it”

If she’d cared enough to look, she’d notice the pair at the table had abandoned their plates to gawk openly at them, unfortunately she was too focused on her husband. She hummed in reluctant agreement with him, finally standing beside him to see his offering to her growling stomach. Fried eggs with buttered toast wasn’t exactly the healthiest breakfast, cut up tomatoes being the only good thing on the plate, but after all that had happened she needed something fatty to treat herself. She was glad he’d picked up on that, though she could usually rely on him to pick up on her subtleties.

“Looks delicious, thank you for cooking for me”

“Always willing to lend a hand Lucy, but if you’re looking to thank me then…”

He not so subtly nodded down to his apron and the smile that had been hesitant to form broke out into a grin. This fool really knew how to make her mornings.

“Oh, alright, but just because you’ve been so sweet”

He smirked at her, confident in his victory. She rolled her eyes but allowed him to lean in, closing in until he finally claimed her lips with his. They were slow and languid, a lazy morning kiss, yet also oh so satisfying. Their lips moved together as they deepened the kiss, her arms relaxed around his shoulders, hands resting in his hair. There was a clatter before his arms wrapped around her, gently coercing her closer against him. Her mind faintly recognised he must have put down the pan before it turned off as he licked her lips, asking for entry that she happily gave him. He kept up with the slow movements, teasing her by licking the roof of her mouth and gently exploring before pulling completely back, removing all contact with her. Once she could actually think beyond basic comments about how sexy he was looking right now in an apron, she actually got a good look at him and was suddenly amazingly vexed beyond belief. His stupid, self satisfied smirk was making her angry and also doing things to her, she needed her revenge. 

She reached out her hands to grab him by the back of his head, catching him by surprise and allowing him no defense when she started kissing him harshly. She pressed her lips against his over and over, peppering him with her intense feelings, probably too intense this early in the morning. When she finally spared him and stepped back, he fell back against the counter, crimson and weak kneed. He let out a small whine before trying to stand back up. When he was finally able to hold himself up, he had also apparently recovered his voice.

“O-ok...you win this time”

“Oh come on Loke, you know I always win”

“Is that a challenge? I’m always up for round two-”

“What was that?!”

“Aye! Since when were you two together?!”

They both jumped apart, remembering at the same time they were entertaining guests. Probably not an appropriate time to be flirting heavily with each other. Her cheeks burned as embarrassment made her fluster, paralyzing her mind with mortification. Loke was unperturbed by being caught, instead grinning quite proudly as he recovered faster than her.

“We’ve been married about six months, Lucy got down on one knee and who was I to deny her? I could never turn away my love and here we are. Didn’t you read the Sorcerer's magazine article on it?"

“Nope”

“Where we were training, there was no need for that stuff. It would just distract me from getting stronger anyway!”

Right, if they hadn’t seen any of the many tabloids gossiping about why Fairytail had broken up, some even rejoicing in the matter, then there was no way they’d picked up on this. Loke had no right to look so offended.

“He’s simplified it a little bit. We dated for a while first before I popped the question. It took some more time after that until we got married”

“So you are married? _ ” _

She held up her ring hand so Loke could hold it with his own, their rings together on their fingers.

“Yes, happily so”

They seemed dazed before Happy flew over circling them and cheering.

“I knew you liiiiiiiiiiiiiiikedd him Lucy! Didn’t I say you did?!”

“You did, you even got Virgo saying it...It’s a little annoying you were right actually”

“Well it’s annoying we weren’t invited to the wedding! Right Natsu?!”

Shaken out of his surprise, this new information having finally sunk in, he stormed over to them, stopping just in front of them.

“Yeah! Where was our invite?!”

She huffed, put out that they’d take such a tone with her, it was a little hypocritical considering all they’d done.

“How could I have sent you one? I didn’t know where you were! You just left remember?! Besides it was in the Celestial Spirit World, only spirits were invited”

“Well that’s not fair! What about us?! What about the rest of the guild?!”

She felt an arm wrap around her, Loke’s hand letting go of hers to rest on her side as he saddled up closer to her.

“Well, thankfully for you two, my amazing Lucy did decide on having an Earthland marriage. So if we can find more people then you’ll be invited to that”

“Sweet! Can't wait!”

“Yeah! Let’s get real rowdy Natsu!”

“Of course!”

She could feel the inevitable anger rushing through her, a side effect of talking with Natsu too long, he always knew how to wind her up.

“No! You are not trashing my wedding!”

“Now, now Lucy. I can see why they’re so excited” His lips gently kissed her cheek in an effort to soothe her, an unfortunately successful effort. “After all, the fact we’ll be together forever is something to be celebrated”

“You’re just celebrating the idea of a second honeymoon”

He tried to be coy as he looked to the side, but he wasn’t fooling her. He was definitely interested in the idea of another week of just the two of them.

“...Perhaps that too”

“But...it won’t be forever right? That’s kind of sad”

She was surprised to hear such a quiet tone from Happy, who had apparently landed on Natsu’s shoulder after his little flight. The droopy ears and limp tail didn’t suit the usually bright Exceed. Concern for her small friend overtook any other thought she had.

“What do you mean Happy? We love each other, it will be forever.”

“I don’t doubt you’re both loyal but...Lucy will die and Loke won’t. You’ll be separated and that’s really sad”

She froze slightly in Loke’s hold. Oh stars help her that was right, they didn’t know she was immortal now, so of course that was a big concern. In fact it was one many at Fairytail were probably going to have, it would seem to them that a marriage between Spirit and human could only end in tears. She glanced up at Loke, who tilted his head in response, a silent question. He’d follow her lead on this, though he probably would want to tell them. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of explaining all this multiple times, but it was better to bite the bullet now rather than later.

She sighed deeply as she made up her mind. 

“That’s not something you need to worry about Happy, I’m a Spirit now too. I’m going to live as long as he does. We’re really going to be spending forever together and before you go all crazy, I married him knowing this would happen. I wanted to spend eternity with him, the man I love with all my heart”

Predictably he squeezed her tighter against him, kissing the top of her head in a display of grateful affection before resting his head on hers. He was a complete goner for her, she hoped that he knew that while she wasn’t as overt as he was, she had hopelessly fallen for him too.

Her comment didn’t seem to cheer up Happy though, in fact he shot up into the air as the information hit him, unable to just stand while agitated emotions burst through him.

“Wait, that means we’ll all die and leave Lucy behind!”

“They’ll only be you two left after everyones gone, after Fairytail actually disbands for real, not this fake break up everyones doing. You’re both family and I don’t like that we won’t all be together forever.” Natsu frowned at the ground, annoyed with the situation. She understood his grief, was willing to talk it through with him, but this had been her choice. She would stand tall and defend it. She jumped slightly when he pointed at Loke. “You’d better look after her when we’re all gone, it’s your duty as a member of Fairytail too! If you hurt her I’ll haunt you!”

“Me too! I’ll be a super scary cat ghost if you make Lucy cry!”

He wore a matching frown as he huffed in response. He moved so he was behind her, holding her tightly against his chest and staring Natsu down. As touched as she was that all her friends wanted to protect her and saw her as family, she could look after herself! Especially now after all her training, she refused to be someone that always had to be rescued. In tune with her husband’s emotions as she was though, she also felt a pang of sympathy for him too, it seemed his flirtatious past was always going to come back and bite him.

“I’m a lion, on my pride I will never betray Lucy. I don’t want to imagine my life without her and I will do anything to protect her. If we do seperate, which you seem to think will happen, I will still look out for her as a close friend, I won’t abandon her. Honestly I’m a little annoyed you’d suggest such a thing”

“Just a warning, I want to know she’ll be safe when we’re gone that’s all”

“You can count on it”

The stare down continued and for a terrifying moment she felt the tension rise up to try and suffocate her. She tensed, preparing for a potential fight between the two. When, just as quickly as it came, the darker atmosphere left, both relaxing as Natsu smiled at them.

“Alright! I better get twice the cake at your Earthland wedding for missing out on the first one!”

“For insinuating I’d hurt or cheat on Lucy? Not a chance, you’ll be lucky if you get one slice”

“Awww come on, it’s not my fault you were such a flirt”

He let go of her to step close to Natsu, face to face and glaring at each other. But despite the fact they were arguing again, this seemed more lighthearted, less threatening. But still, they were still a major threat to her furniture one way or the other, especially with Happy cheerfully egging them on. 

“I’m a changed man, you’re still as obnoxious and loud as ever though”

Fists clenched as teeth started to show in their smiles, sharp and dangerous. Yet it all seemed like an act, just as much a show as much as a fight was.

“Wanna back up those words?!”

“Sure! It’s been a long time since we’ve brawled, it’ll be almost nostalgic”

Magic sparked into life in the air around them, ready to be brought forth at a moments notice. Highly destructive Fire and Light magic clashing in her home? No thanks! She shuddered at the thought of the bills, using it to be brave enough to stand between them.

“Hey now-”

“Hey! Open up!”

All three of them jumped, while Happy let out a sharp yelp in surprise. What in the world? Could she ever get any peace? The urgency in the man’s voice prompted her to start towards the door, or she would have, if Natsu hadn’t cursed.

“They’ve found us already?”

_ Who’s found them already?! _

She ran to the window and was met with the alarming image of the Crocus guards outside her house.

“What did you do?! Why are the guards outside my house?!”

“It’s time to haul ass Lucy!”

“Aye!”

But...but her breakfast! Her nice relaxing morning! Why did they always do this?! Natsu ran forward to grab her but was cut off by Loke who immediately darted in front of her.

“You’re in serious trouble flame-brain, you talk about me protecting her but then bring the army down on her house?!”

“Yeah, yeah, scold me later. For now let’s book it”

He sighed in response, resigned to their fate.

“I’ll get your stuff and bring it to you Lucy and I’ll make you breakfast one way or the other. You better not hurt her Dragneel”

“Right, I won’t so let’s go!”

He turned and, using his fire magic, he blasted a hole in her wall. The damages and costs screeched her brain to a halt as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the window. Happy flew cheerfully beside them, while she heard Loke yelling curses behind them, rushing around to grab her stuff while swearing at Natsu’s impulses. They landed harshly onto the cobble streets, the guards behind them. Before she even had a moment to process this crazy ride she was suddenly on he was pulling her along again, forcing her to run alongside him. The pure adrenaline rushing through her eventually restarted her brain enough to allow the proper rage to start bubbling up inside her. That had been her home for the last year! She had so many good memories here and now she was being dragged into his mischief again!

“What did you do Natsu?”

“I made a beacon to call in FairyTail's revival! In the place where it would stand out the most!”

She was confused by his beaming grin and cryptic words, until a break in the buildings revealed the castle. What was normally a proud, regal castle, now had Fairytail written across it in flames. Sure it would definitely catch people’s attention, but wasn’t this a bit much?! They could get into serious trouble here! He caught her shocked expression and laughed.

“Go big or go home right?”

“Don’t worry Lucy, it’s the type of flame that will disappear on its own”

“Isn’t that the least of our problems? Even if you say we’re going to revive Fairytail, we don’t know where anyone is”

His gaze caught hers, his unwavering confidence starting to be a little infectious, calming her fears.

“We can do it if we believe, we’re going to round everyone up and bring back Fairytail!”

Hope sprang up in her and the three of them let out a cheer, joined in by a fourth voice. Loke appeared on her other side, grinning like a loon and easily keeping up despite the many bags he was carrying. 

“I hope you weren’t planning on leaving me behind. I saw your little stunt Natsu and Erza is going to have your head when we find her.” 

“Do you have ta remind me?”

“Absolutely. I can't wait to see everyone together again, so I hope you can keep up with me and Lucy, or we’ll leave you in the dirt”

“You can try!”

They shared a laugh as the distance between them and the Crocus army grew, as the edge of the town came into sight. The last year had been absolutely wonderful, made so much better by her time with her spirits, with her new husband. But now, it was time for a new journey, it was time to find her friends and bring them home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it, this story has come to it's end. I may write an epilogue about Loke finally getting to see Gray again. Since he went undercover I bet there was information about him and then suddenly none, like it just cut out. So though he may not show it, it probably spooked the poor spirit.


	7. Epilogue: Finding Gray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loke finally sees his best friend for the first time in a harrowing year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knew this was finished but I had been playing with the idea of a little epilogue to show them coming together and Loke getting his reunion with Gray. I hope you like it!

There were celebrations among the now reunited Fairytail. Loud cries, huge hugs and lively conversation rippled throughout the battlefield, the victors against Avatar exuberant in their win. She caught the gaze of the man in the centre of it all, someone who had scared her with the belief he had turned traitor. He briefly smiled at her, before remembering something and frowning at her, doing his best to stay mad at her, he probably wasn’t going to let that go for a while. 

She could understand though. Gômon had threatened to torture her in many different ways, on full display of Natsu and Happy, he wanted them all to feel true despair. Well he could forget that, she was a spirit, there was something she could do. She’d demanded the axe from the start, yelling to die instead of tormenting her friends. It had upset them slightly and she knew if she’d actually died her spirits would have wanted answers but she wouldn’t be used to torture others. That’s when Gray had busted in, apparently having heard her be confident in her death, he had not been happy. He’d gone through that whole self sacrificing act before and gotten thoroughly scolded for it, he was not happy that Lucy hadn’t learnt from his mistakes. She’d need to explain she was basically immortal now to him. 

Her keys let out a small pulse of power and she was reminded of the other man currently not best pleased with her. He’d sensed her mortal peril and was upset that she’d kept him at bay, holding back his self summon. Gômon wasn’t worth revealing such a good secret plan, he would be most useful if the situation turned incredibly dire. He had not appreciated that. That fury had only gotten worse when she chose to summon Taurus instead of him, but she’d had her reasons. Taurus was more willing to stick by her side and help her fight. She’d gotten the nasty feeling that Loke would have hunted down everyone who had hurt her and give them equal pain. His love would fuel a fierce vengeance that just wasn’t worth it, she didn’t like Avatar, but they probably didn’t deserve that. Probably.

She only slightly touched his key, she hadn’t even properly grabbed it, when he summoned himself. He appeared in a shower of gold, glaring at her and crossing his arms.

“Hello Lucy, what was the big idea? Why wouldn’t you let me help you?”

She sighed, already not the biggest fan of this conversation, even though she had expected it.

“Because I was fine Loke”

“Fine?! FINE?! Lucy I could physically feel that you were in danger. I was literally shaking with the warnings our bond was sending me. And yet you denied me?! You refused my help?! Why?”

He was so desperate, confusion and hurt swirling in his eyes and forcing his normally cheerful expression into a frown. 

“I got through it Loke, I had a plan, it was fine, I promise you”

“Yeah? Well what wasn’t fine was having to wait an excruciatingly long time for Taurus to return and say you were ok."

"I know, I'm not sure what I would have done in that kind of position. I am truly sorry for what it's worth. I never want to hurt you."

He huffed, anger rolling off him even as his shoulders relaxed slightly. His arms shot out and he pulled her close, holding her tightly against his chest.

"Please Lucy. Don't do that again. I need to be there for you. I need to make sure you're safe"

She slowly hugged him back, hands rubbing up and down to try and soothe him.

"I'm a spirit now remember? I wouldn't have died. I wouldn't have left you."

She must have struck a chord deep inside him, his hands curled into fists that gripped her back. She swore she heard a small growl at her ear.

"You still feel pain Lucy, intense pain if it's a killing blow. I want to hold off that pain for you. I'd be happy if you never felt it. Please rely on me more, that way neither of us have to be self sacrificing"

"You finally understand how I feel about you constantly endangering yourself?"

He nodded against her, placing a small, emotion driven kiss on her cheek.

"I do. The fact you're a spirit isn't an excuse to get hurt. Neither is the fact I'm one."

He seemed to add that last part almost reluctantly, but it was still progress. She hoped one day he'd see himself more than just a shield. As she held him her eyes wandered, until she spotted someone important. She lightly pushed him backwards, signalling that she wanted the hug to end. He complied, letting go of her and stepping away from her. Though he looked pretty upset at having to.

"Is everything alright?"

She smiled brightly at him, unable to hold back the joy that was overtaking her. He was going to freak out! Unfortunately at the moment he only looked confused.

"I haven't told you who helped me escape from that life threatening situation"

He frowned at the reminder that she had been in danger. He seemed to be mentally arguing with himself until curiosity won out.

"Who?"

She turned to face the newly united guild, pointing towards the middle of them. His gaze followed her direction until he spotted a certain ice Mage. Her arm unconsciously lowered as she focused solely on him. Watching with unmatched glee as it slowly sank into her husband's brain that Gray was right there in front of him, alive and well. A beaming grin rushed into his face, eyes sparkling with excitement.

This had been the third and biggest reason she hadn't summoned him. Despite the age difference and coming from different worlds, those two were genuine blood brothers. She had forced Loke to fight comrades before, she couldn’t do that again. Thinking back on it another reason had occurred to her. Gray was full on pretending to be evil, going as far to insult and belittle them. If she had summoned Loke, he would have been forced to do the same, to say that their friendship meant nothing to him. After months of fretting over Gray’s disappearance, that would have crushed his soul to hear, it would have hurt Gray to say it. It definitely wasn’t worth the extra firepower to pain them both in that way. In the end, she’d made the right choice she thought. 

He looked back to her, before his head darted back to his best friend. He fidgeted and bit his lip, torn between staying by her side and rushing over, thankfully, she was happy to help him.    
“Go on, I’ll be right behind you”   
“You sure? I mean I should be making certain that you’re-”   
“Loke. Go see your best friend”

He nodded, not hesitating for another second. He was gone before she could blink, tearing off towards the others. She shook her head, amused by his antics and slowly followed after him, giving him the time he so obviously needed. She watched as he jumped forward, plowing into Gray before pulling him into a one armed hug. He was caught off guard for a moment before realising just who’d almost bowled him over. In that moment, their matching grins and relieved laughter could have melted even the coldest of hearts, or so she believed. She was pretty sure there was actual sunlight beaming from them they were so bright.

“Where have you been, man? You just completely went off the radar, you had me worried sick. Even Lucy with her amazing journalistic skills couldn’t find where you went!”

“Well, that is what it means to be undercover. Sorry, but I couldn’t blow this, I needed to get information on Avatar. I would have told you guys earlier if I could, I promise” He backed off from the hug and held out his hand, having the decency to look apologetic. “Forgive me?”

Loke had the gall to act like he even had to think about forgiving Gray, leaving the poor ice mage sweating for a moment as he tapped his finger against his chin. He finally showed mercy, smiling as he took Gray’s hand, the two of them meeting in the middle.

“Alright, but drop us a warning next time alright?”

“Alright, geez you’re so clingy aren’t you?”

“It’s what you get for being my best friend, you can't hate it now”

She finally stood beside them, chuckling to herself as Gray rolled his eyes, attention shifting to her.

“I suppose he’s right huh? Thank you for keeping an eye on him when I couldn’t. I hope he didn’t cause you too much trouble”

“Why are you acting like some protective par-”

“Nah, he’s a bit clingy. But I expected that when I married him”

“Heh, yeah, I bet you get a lot of it if he’s your hus-” He paused as his words finally hit his brain, causing it to come to a screeching halt. There were soft gasps around them as everyone (excluding Natsu and Happy) took in this new information. “Wait, your husband? You’re married?!”   
She almost laughed at his surprise if it wasn’t so potentially insulting. An arm wrapped around her waist and she allowed Loke to proudly pull her close. His chest puffed out as he happily showed this off. 

“Yup, we got married in the Celestial Spirit world about six months ago. She proposed to me! Can you believe it?” He squeezed her tightly against him,she’d come to understand him enough to know he was probably keeping in some very embarrassing squeaking noises. “She picked me! You have to call me Loke LionHeartfilia from now on!”

He was on cloud nine at such a simple reminder, it was adorable in its own way. The guild however didn’t seem as enthusiastic. Shock and hurt fueled her as annoyed faces stared back at her. Her confusion was answered as Gray crossed his arms.

“And why wasn’t I invited?”   
“I think you mean why weren’t we invited?”

Erza came to his side, Wendy followed suit. Her family were quite the overly emotional one, there was going to be trouble. They had every right to be upset, but she felt this wasn’t their fault.

“You had all separated and were all incredibly busy! Who knew how long it would have taken to invite you all, if I could even get into contact with you. Only half of you might have shown up, which would have inevitably upset the others”

There were a few murmurs as some reluctantly agreed to her point, though there was still some resistance. 

“I could have put my modeling on hold for this”

“I’m sure Lamina Scale would have understood…”

“We could have gone too!”

She almost jumped back at Erza and Gray’s sudden indignation, but she was confident they were two people who had no right to judge.

“Weren’t you working together to infiltrate Avatar? We had this wedding in the Celestial Spirit world you know? You wouldn’t have been gone for just a day, it was more a few weeks actually by the end of it. Jason was thankfully very understanding of my situation, but I doubt a dark guild would be as forgiving”

There was a moment of tense frustration as he both reluctantly agreed. The air forcefully taken out of them they both slumped. The general mood was starting to sour as there was a sweeping realisation that many of the guild wouldn’t have been able to make it, that most of them had been otherwise extremely preoccupied. But that wasn’t their fault, everyone needed to move on to survive, it just meant they’d lost touch a little that’s all, but there was no doubt in her mind they’d all missed each other. She shared a quick glance with Loke, hopeful that he might be able to turn this around. With a small nod to her he raised his hand.

“Now wait a minute everyone. Yes you all missed our first wedding, but it was really for us spirits anyway. We wouldn’t have been able to join an Earthland wedding, so for everyone to be involved that had to happen. Besides the Celestial Spirit King wanted to wed us” He said that so nonchalantly, but she was embarrassed by the extra attention she got with that simple sentence. From the way she was being stared at you’d think that was a unique occurrence...It definitely was! “But! My fair Lucy did come up with a plan that I fully endorse. A second wedding, here in Earthland when Fairytail finally got back together again. Well we’re making moves towards that, so I guess I’m here to formally ask all of you. Will you come to our wedding?”

There was a beat before she started hearing some relieved sighs from her friends, a few choice words and cheeky grins, the mood rose up steadily and accumulated to-

“Well why didn’t you say so?!”

“Of course we’ll all come! This is just another reason to rebuild Fairytail as fast as possible!”

“Yeah! So we can trash Lucy’s wedding!”

“No Natsu! I’ll uninvite you if you keep this up!”

The laughter that followed her threat was like a refreshing breeze that washed over her. Oh how she missed this, missed the light teasing and fun adventures. She even slightly missed all those brawls, if only for how lively it made everything. Amongst it all she watched Loke once more catch Gray’s attention, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Gray I… I’d also like to formally ask if you would like to be my best man”

He went wide eyed in response, but was there any reason to be so surprised? She honestly thought he was the obvious pick for Loke. 

“Really? You want me as your best man?”

“I can think of no one else I want for this. I’d be honoured if you stood up there beside me”

“...Of course man, I’d love to”

At his reply he was pulled into another one armed hug from the spirit. They both wrapped their arms around each other's shoulders as the exuberation spilled out into the others. Honestly, those two could be very sweet when they wanted to be, they were always going to be the other's best man, it was inevitable. It definitely wouldn’t feel right otherwise. She watched her husband joyfully explain all his plans for the wedding to an increasingly captive audience, happy for him that all his worrying was for naught. That all the patient waiting he had done for his brother in arms had paid off and now he could hang round with him again. She caught a snippet of him describing some over the top light decorations and couldn’t help a small giggle, turning his head to face her. He quickly reached out for her, pulling her into a hug.

“Everyone’s coming Lucy! Gray’s going to be my best man and they’re all helping me with the finer points of our wedding, this is going to be great!”

She wasn’t sure it was the safest idea to let Fairytail plan any part of her wedding, but she’d already resigned herself to the fact it was probably going to be pretty chaotic. She hugged him tightly back, feeling an immense joy in being able to physically feel his own happiness, the man was practically vibrating with it.

“It’s going to be amazing Loke. I love you so much”

The declaration had just slipped from her mouth, encouraged by the buzz of emotions in the air, but he wasn’t perturbed by it. Rather it seemed to make him worse. Energetic to the point she could even start to feel it fizz unconsciously through her keys and back to her, a spirit and owner's mental link could be really strange sometimes. 

“I love you too! I can't wait, oooh can’t we have the wedding right now?”

“Somehow, I don’t think so” His small pout was so pinchable, she had to quickly change topics to save them both that embarrassment. “I’m glad you forgave Gray that quickly though. You have no idea how much he worried about you”

“I have a feeling it was probably a stupid amount, sorry man”

“Nah, It’s ok. Besides your making up for it now aren’t you? It’s no big deal”

He stepped back from her to give Gray a quick smile and thumbs up, forgetting the past months easily. A sense of pride rose up inside her, causing her heart to swell. This man will be the death of her. She was about to speak up again when Gray cut her off.

"If this is some sort of hint that I should forgive you, you're not getting off that easily. I'm still mad at you"

Before Loke could respond, confusion dancing on his expression, she gently shoved Gray’s shoulder.

“I’ve already gotten a lecture from Natsu and Happy of all people, I get it. I won’t do it again.”

Her husband had drilled it into her head too. She may have believed it was fine to let herself get hurt, but she needed to think more about the others. If her spirits acting like they were just shields distressed her, surely her actions would upset those she cared about too? She would have to find some sort of balance between protecting her family with her new power and not causing them a ton of worry. She could see now how Loke sometimes missed the mark, this was going to be tricky. He noticed her gloomy mood and gently ruffled her hair.

“As long as you understand...I guess I’ll let it go. This one time”

“Ok, thanks Gray”

“No problem. I’m here to support you”

There was a small huff by her ear as arms wrapped around her stomach to pull her against a familiar chest. 

“As much as I love the fact you two are close, don’t forget me alright?”

“I don’t think I could”

“Yeah, you whine too much to be forgotten”

Loke’s spluttering denials were met with increased teasing from the ice mage. It was hard to believe that the spirit missed this, missed chasing him around in mock anger as the guild egged them on. But he had. He’d missed Gray so much that even with their new life together as a rather large distraction, his mind had still wandered. She’d still caught him up late at night staring at her wall, hoping an answer would magically come to him, a clue to where Gray was hiding.

She watched them act like fools, light and ice magic soon joined by fire as the fight took hold and a nostalgic guild rumble crashed into existence. She moved to one side alongside Wendy and Carla, content to just watch the insanity of the constant shifting and fighting, currently Loke and Gray had teamed up against Natsu, though Erza was looking to sneak in a few hits. Seeing it all confirmed something deep down in her heart, pushing away the last of her remaining worries and doubts. Fairytail was finally back together, they’d done it and she couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

**Author's Note:**

> It took about six months for Loke and Lucy to marry, so that's six months left of married shenanigans before Fairytail gets back together, I might add to this then, who knows?


End file.
